THREE-WAY RACE FOR 25TH DISTRICT.

Byline: ALEX DOBUZINSKIS Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- A seven-term Republican incumbent, a Democrat who was a congressional aide and a Libertarian aerospace engineer are all running for the 25th District House seat.

The candidates race have different ways of campaigning.

Incumbent Howard ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, has spent recent days on the campaign trail in other states, helping Republicans in tight races. Democrat Robert Rodriguez has been going door-to-door locally. Libertarian David Erickson admits to staying home, saying his candidacy is more about exposing voters to Libertarianism than making a serious run for Congress.

But all three have definite ideas about what they want to do in Washington, D.C.

``If (Republicans) keep the majority, which I think we do, then I remain as chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee,'' McKeon said. ``And I've got a whole lot of stuff that we have to do there.''

Erickson believes much of what the federal government does, from farm support to foreign aid, is unconstitutional. He even told a group of seniors at a candidates forum that he opposes Social Security, and one of the listeners yelled at him for it.

But Erickson, 50, sticks to his principles.

``All that stuff needs to be abolished,'' he said. ``Get the federal government back to its constitutional limitations.''

Rodriguez, who has worked as an aide for Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Lakewood, said he was inspired to run after watching Congress approve an overhaul of Medicare two years ago.

He criticizes the bill for not allowing the federal government to negotiate discounts on drugs through bulk purchases. And he says the issue is personal for him since his own sister died of lupus 11 years ago and he saw how public health care helped her.

``I think this bill, what it's doing it's basically threatening Medicare as we know it for corporate profit, for big pharmaceutical companies,'' he said. ``And I think that's wrong.''

Rodriguez has raised about $200,000 for his campaign, compared to more than $1.1 million for McKeon. Erickson has no campaign cash.

Rodriguez wants the country to start bringing troops home from Iraq and go after terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.

``Five years after Sept. 11, he's still not caught,'' he said. ``And I was one of those people who believed my president when he stood on the rubble of the World Trade Center and said we're going to get Osama bin Laden, dead or alive.''

McKeon, 68, said his priorities if re-elected will be to reauthorize a number of bills, including the No Child Left Behind Act -- with changes to deal with how low-performing subgroups at a school can pull down the whole school's standardized test score.

He supports the war in Iraq, and the president's tax cuts.

``We cut taxes, and since 2001, since 9-11, we, because of our tax cuts, have put $1.1 trillion back into people's pockets,'' he said. ``And I think they get that money, they're able to spend it and invest it, and that creates jobs.''

Rodriguez, 29, said his plan to give everyone earning less than $75,000 a $1,500 tax credit would be a better shot in the arm for the economy, because it would go to working-class and middle-class Americans.

On the local level, he wants to invest in the freeway system because so many Santa Clarita residents drive into Los Angeles for work.

Even though the Sierra Club has endorsed his Democratic opponent, McKeon said he's done a lot for the local environment. That includes writing federal legislation to block a landfill in Elsmere Canyon and creating a wildland link for the Pacific Crest Trail through Agua Dulce.

Erickson, who works as an aerospace engineer, agrees with Rodriguez in calling for a disengagement from Iraq.

``The military should be brought home from all the foreign countries, and used only to defend this country,'' he said.

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com

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