The congressional campaign for state Sen. Tom McClintock charged Democratic opponent Charlie Brown by going back on his "patriotism before partisanship" campaign pledge by making public appearances last week with retired Gen. Wesley Clark.

In a statement, McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) campaign consultant John Feliz said Clark is working on behalf of Democratic candidates, and said in a media interview that he hoped the 4th Congressional District would "go blue."

"Charlie Brown is hoping no one will notice how partisan his friends are," Feliz said in the release. He also noted that a political action committee founded by Clark called WesPAC works specifically to elect Democrats to office.

In response, Brown's campaign pointed out that Clark and Brown had appeared together to announce a new donation for a veterans' charity Brown founded.

"Since Southern California politician Tom McClintock has voted repeatedly to deny earned benefits to U.S. veterans and military families, and has publicly referred to the plight of war veterans as a ‘non story,' it comes as little surprise that he would attack two decorated career military officers for contributing $30,000 to local charities that help veterans," said Brown campaign manager Todd Stenhouse in an e-mail.

Brown, himself a veteran and the father of an active-duty U.S. soldier, founded the group "Promises Kept" with a stated mission of donating 5 percent of all campaign funds Brown receives to nonprofit, community groups that benefit veterans and their families.

McClintock and Brown are competing to replace U.S. Rep. John Doolittle in the 4th district of northeastern California.

The Pindell Report rates the race as "likely Republican."