A poll by state Sen. Tom McClintock's (R-Thousand Oaks) congressional campaign shows him with an 8-point lead over Democrat Charlie Brown in the 4th Congressional District.

The poll by Val Smith, who has done similar polls for McClintock in the past, gives McClintock a 47-39 advantage over Brown, which expands to 53-39 for McClintock when campaign messages from both candidates were read to those surveyed.

The memo from Smith about the poll did not say which campaign messages were used. Both men got the same percentage of their own party's support, 72 percent, in a district that is heavily Republican in voter registration.

Brown, however, led in independent voters, 48 percent to 37 percent. Smith's memo noted that if McClintock stayed about that close to Brown with independent voters, he would win the race handily.

The poll of 400 4th District voters between Sept. 22 and 24 has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.

"Voters are focusing on the issues that matter to them and discovering that Charlie Brown lines up with liberal Democrats on issues that are important to voters," said John Feliz, a campaign strategist for McClintock, in a press release. "In uncertain economic times, voters look for experienced leadership."

But Todd Stenhouse, Brown's campaign manager, said past polls by Smith haven't been accurate on how well McClintock is doing.

He pointed to a poll Smith did during the congressional primary race earlier this year between McClintock and former U.S. Rep. Doug Ose (R-Sacramento) that showed McClintock winning by 30 percentage points.

McClintock ultimately won by 14 points over Ose in the June 3 primary.

"Considering this pollster has a track record of padding McClintock's numbers by at least 15 points, we take this as confirmation of our own polling, which shows Lt. Col. Brown opening up a lead in this race," Stenhouse said in a statement to PolitickerCA.com. "We are quite certain that Tom McClintock would not be running such a desperately negative campaign, nor plagiarizing content from Lt. Col. Brown's website, if he honestly thought he was leading."

Stenhouse noted that an August poll by Brown's campaign showed Brown ahead, and that the same pollster accurately predicted the race in 2006, when Brown lost to U.S. Rep. John Doolittle (R-Roseville) by three percentage points. Doolittle is retiring this year amid a federal investigation.

"McClintock's track record in this race is one of dishonesty," Stenhouse said. "Why would polling be any different?"

Brown and McClintock both sent out last-day appeals Tuesday to supporters for campaign donations, at the end of the final fundraising period before the Nov. 4 election.

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