INCUMBENT MCKEON APPEARS TO BE DAUNTING RIVAL.

Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - U.S. Rep. Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon is expected to coast to victory over both his Republican challengers in March's primary election and his Democratic and Libertarian opponents in the April general election.

McKeon, Santa Clarita's first mayor, has earned high praise from local officials for obtaining money to clean up the former Bermite munitions factory and directing defense contracts to aerospace companies in the Antelope Valley. McKeon has also opposed a planned sand and gravel mine in Soledad Canyon.

The congressman will face James O. ``Jim'' Aldrich, a part-time sociology professor at California State University, Northridge, who lives in Valyermo. However, McKeon hasn't given much thought to his looming race for a sixth term.

``He's so focused on national security and doing his job that politics really hasn't come up,'' said McKeon spokesman Scott Wilk, while the congressmen was on a fact-finding trip to study government and secondary education in western Europe.

Before leaving on the trip, McKeon visited with local officials in Victorville and Barstow, which will become part of the 25th Congressional District once redistricting goes into effect.

The revamped district, which stretches from the northern San Fernando Valley, north past Mammoth Lakes and west to near Reno, Nev., is one of the state's largest.

``It presents a real challenge to any candidate,'' Wilk said.

Aldrich said he was aware he was a long-shot candidate when he launched his bid.

``More than anything else, I feel like Congress and the federal government really let us down on Sept. 11,'' Aldrich said. ``McKeon is part of that failure.''

Aldrich pledged to serve only one term and to concentrate on building up America's defenses while returning control of the education system to the states and making government smaller.

If McKeon receives the Republican nomination, he will face Democrat Bob Conaway, an attorney from Barstow, and Libertarian Frank M. Consolo, who lives in Saugus.

``McKeon has not been an effective leader,'' Conaway said. ``If the people of the Santa Clarita Valley vote their pocketbook, they can't but help changing horses.''

Conaway would work to pass a stimulus package targeted to working families rather than corporations, he said, while encouraging a return to the manufacturing economy of the past and a shift away from today's service economy.

``I favor aggressive economic changes,'' Conaway said. ``I want this race to be a referendum on the failure of President Bush's economic policy.''

Consolo, an employee of Anheuser-Busch, said he is running because the federal government has become too large and has infringed on citizens' constitutional rights.

The Saugus resident, who does not plan to raise money, would also work to legalize marijuana and reduce criminal penalties for people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses.