[img_assist|nid=1246|title=Congressional candidate Charlie Brown|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=190|height=240]Congressional candidate Charlie Brown blasted opponent Tom McClintock Thursday for associating with scandal-plagued and outgoing U.S. Rep. John Doolittle.

In a press release, Brown said McClintock was making a poor choice by associating with Doolittle, who represents the 4th Congressional District in California that Brown, a Democrat, is trying for in November.

"John Doolittle's support of Southern California politician Tom McClintock only shows who represents real change in this race, and who is offering more of the same out-of-touch partisan politics that has produced record deficits, record foreclosures, record gas prices, open borders, and strained our military to its breaking point," Brown said in the release.

Earlier this week, a spokesman for Doolittle (R-Roseville) told PolitickerCA.com the congressman will campaign with state Sen. McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) this fall.

Doolittle, who has represented the largely rural, northeastern California district since 1991, chose not to run for re-election this year amid federal investigations into his and his wife's connections to former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was convicted last year on fraud charges related to his work in Washington, D.C.

McClintock moved to the 4th Congressional District to run as Doolittle's replacement and won the primary election in a field of four earlier this month. Brown, a Democrat, narrowly lost to Doolittle in 2006.

McClintock's campaign spokesman, Stan Devereux, said Wednesday that Doolittle's problems have nothing to do with McClintock."The question is Charlie Brown," Devereux said. "Is he going to have Nancy Pelosi here to campaign for him? He wants to portray himself as something he's not."