Northern California's 4th Congressional District ordinarily wouldn't be anything other than an easy vote generator for Republicans in one of the stoutest GOP regions in the state.

But in this anything-but-ordinary political year, the stretch run of the race between Republican Tom McClintock, a renowned conservative lion, and Democrat Charlie Brown, a decorated Air Force veteran, is emerging as one of the country's most closely watched congressional contests.

The national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is taking aim at the sprawling district – extending from the Sacramento suburbs to the Oregon border – as a prime target in its national "Red to Blue" strategy to turn Republican seats Democratic. And the Republican National Congressional Committee is running ads to defend its turf.

Read the full story at sacbee.com.