As Democrats stand poised to regain the House of Representatives and possibly even the U.S. Senate, poll numbers have drawn tighter in Doolittle’s once staunchly Republican district spanning north from Lake Tahoe to the Oregon border and east from Rocklin to the Nevada state line.

A poll released Friday by Survey USA and Sacramento’s News 10 shows Democratic opponent Charlie Brown narrowing Doolittle’s lead to seven points – 50 percent for Doolittle and 43 percent for Brown – three points closer than an Oct. 23 poll by the same news channel. Another poll released last week by the Seattle-based firm Constituent Dynamics showed Doolittle at 49 percent and Brown at 46 percent, a dead heat given the 3 to 4 percent margin of error.

“It’s a competitive race, more now than anyone thought it would be six months ago,” said Dan Schnur, a Republican strategist who has worked on the Reagan/Bush, Bush/Quayle and U.S. Sen. John McCain presidential campaigns.

Doolittle, 56, started his political career at the age of 30 in the California senate. He first ran for the then- 14th Congressional District and won in 1990. After redistricting in 1992, Doolittle’s seat became District 4, according to Doolittle’s Web site.

Until now, Doolittle has won his races handily, including trouncing Democrat David Winters 65 percent to 35 percent just two years ago.

Doolittle also looked likely to win this year, even after the Washington Post reported in 2005 that he received almost $80,000 in campaign contributions from Abramoff, who pleaded guilty in January to fraud and conspiracy, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.

But now Doolittle finds himself in a tight race with Brown, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and Vietnam veteran. Brown, like Tammy Duckworth in Illinois, is one of a handful of Democratic congressional candidates around the nation with war experience waging tough fights against Republicans. Though their chances of winning vary, the candidates are helping to establish the Democratic Party as pro-military, Schnur said.

But Brown had plenty to throw at Doolittle, including his connections to Abramoff and to the unpopular Bush administration, his vote to reduce medical benefits for veterans and his three draft deferments from the Vietnam War.

“It’s clear that the voters of this district are interested in change,” said Brown spokesperson Todd Stenhouse. (cq) “The simple fact of the matter is that people are sick of the status quo.”

Doolittle and his supporters have been fighting back, mostly at Brown’s criticism of the Iraq war. A group called Veterans Opposing Brown made ads focusing on Brown’s attendance at a Sacramento anti-war protest alongside left-wing activists Cindy Sheehan and actor Sean Penn.

Also, in the past month, both President George W. Bush and his wife Laura Bush came to Sacramento to campaign for Doolittle. But critics say it’s a sign that the Republican Party is worried about him losing the seat.

“This election is critical to the future of our country. President Bush has an aggressive agenda for the rest of his time in office,” Laura Bush said at a rally last Friday in Sacramento.

Schnur said that even though Brown is making gains, a win today would still be a surprise and indicate a widespread sweep by Democrats of Republican seats across the country.

Either way, this year’s election will mean less “business as usual” for the Republican Party.

“No matter what happens, you’ll see the party re-thinking its strategy,” Schnur said.