To keep her job for another two years, veteran Congresswoman Lois Capps must fend off political upstart Matt Kokkonen in the November election.

But with a big edge in campaign money, large turnout expected and most voters registered Democratic in the 23rd District, her reelection would seem likely.

The sharp differences in the two candidates' political experience and campaign war chests is also reflected in their views on most issues, from increasing offshore oil drilling and curbing illegal immigration to outlawing same-sex marriages.

The narrowly shaped district's boundaries snake along the California coast from Monterey County to Port Hueneme, south of Oxnard. It encompasses about 20 cities and communities in between, including Santa Maria, Guadalupe, San Luis Obispo, Shell Beach, Pismo Beach, Grover Beach, Oceano, Santa Barbara, Goleta, Carpinteria and Ventura.

Capps, 70, D-Santa Barbara, is a six-term incumbent and registered nurse who was first elected in a March 1998 special election to fill the seat of her late husband. Congressman Walter Capps, a former UCSB religious studies professor, died of a heat attack about 10 months after he was sworn into office.

While touting her record on issues such as health care, revamping social security and protecting the environment, Capps doesn't presume another victory.

“I serve at the pleasure of the people,” she said during a recent phone interview. “I'm very hopeful that, in this election, I can count on (voters) to support me.”

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As of the last reporting period, ending June 30, she had raised $771,992 for her re-election campaign, and still had $423,479 in the bank.

Kokkonen, in contrast had raised $27,235 and listed $25,647 of that as “cash on hand.”

New figures are due out Wednesday

The Republican candidate downplays that financial disadvantage as he tries to unseat an entrenched incumbent in a district that leans Democratic in voter registration.

“I'm not running on money,” Kokkonen said. “I'm running on ideology and the values of people in our district.”

He criticizes Capps for running again when she initially promised voters to serve only three terms. That undermines her credibility, he contends.

The congresswoman admits she broke that pledge, but asks “voters to consider my record as a whole” when deciding on her integrity.

Kokkonen, 63, a San Luis Obispo resident, is a financial planner who has operated his own business for about 35 years.

He was elected to the Republican Central Committee for San Luis Obispo County in 2002. Two years later, he ran unsuccessfully for state Senate, and in 2006 he ran for the office of San Luis Obispo County Treasurer-Tax-Collector-Public Administrator, but lost.

He immigrated to the United States from his native Finland at age 16, and graduated from Westmont College in Montecito. He and his wife, Jean, have been married for 40 years and have two children.

“I absolutely believe I have a lot to contribute to this wonderful country that has given me so much,” Kokkonen said. “I believe I can represent values that are more mainstream” than the incumbent.

Capps refrains from criticizing her opponent, opting instead to run on her extensive record during a decade as congresswoman.

“It's always an honor to be part of a strong, grassroots campaign,” she said. “We're treating this campaign no different (than previous ones). It's a privilege to go door-to-door” meeting voters as well as talking to people by phone.

When voters look at each candidate's positions on the major issues, they will have a clear choice between a staunch conservative in Kokkonen and a politically savvy liberal in Capps.

They disagree, for example, on the recent $700 billion bailout approved by Congress and signed by President George Bush to bandage a bleeding economy.

Capps voted for the bill, even though “I share my constituents' deep anger over this situation,” she said.

Congress had to act quickly and the bailout, despite its flaws, was the best option available, she added.

“The House took an extremely difficult and important step to protect our economy and the financial livelihood of all people on the South and Central Coasts.”

Kokkonen believes that financial crisis was overstated and economic forces would eventually correct themselves without the federal government going deeper in debt. “In reality, the credit market is not as tight as has been portrayed,” he said. “Overall, the markets will adjust and take care of themselves.”

On the energy front, he favors allowing more oil drilling in the Santa Barbara Channel and elsewhere along the California coast, as a part of multi-faceted program aimed at reducing dependence on foreign oil.

“I'm in favor of increasing our energy supplies from all sources,” he said. “We need more (alternative) energy sources but we should not stop oil drilling, because we need oil.”

Capps, an unwavering environmentalist, has consistently voted against issuing any new drilling leases in federal waters off the local coast. People are being hoodwinked by oil interests into believing more drilling will lower the skyrocketing price of gasoline, when it won't, she contended.

“Erasing that moratorium on new drilling in federal waters doesn't mean gas prices are going to come down,” she said.

Kokkonen is convinced more drilling would be environmentally beneficial because it would reduce pressure in subsea reservoirs, which now causes extensive oil seeps in the Santa Barbara Channel.

“Environmentally it is very sound (to drill more) because it reduces the pressure and natural seepage of oil,” he said.

Saying the United States is “bleeding at the border” from an influx of illegal immigrants, Kokkonen favors building a physical barrier there, and using the military, if necessary, to stop the inflow.

“At some point we may need to put our armed forces there,” he said, “because we have to stop the flow.”

He would support a “guest worker program” allowing foreign workers to come into the county only for limited periods of time and purposes, but then require them to return home.

Capps flatly rejects the idea of using the military to deter illegal immigration.

“I don't want to start a war,” she said. “Border patrol (officers are) not the same as the military. We have a strong and fine tradition of not mixing the two, because they have very different goals.”

She added: “Nobody supports illegal immigration. I have a strong record of advocating, and voting for, more border patrols” and increasing surveillance along the border.

The two candidates also disagree on a statewide measure on the Nov. 4 ballot, Proposition 8, which would create a constitutional ban against same-sex marriages. Kokkonen supports it and Capps opposes it.

“I am in favor of traditional marriage between a man and a woman only,” Kokkonen said. “It has served mankind for thousands of years, and is the only foundation on which families can be built.”

Capps is urging voters to mark “No” on Proposition 8, which would amend the state constitution. “I don't want to see us limit our constitution in terms of human rights,” she said.

Kokkonen is also proposing that all federal income tax be eliminated for anyone under the age of 25, to help young people “get a leg up on life” financially as they start a family, buy their first home or start paying off their student loans.

“I applaud his interest in that age group,” Capps responded. “In my opinion, the (best) way to do that is to invest in education.”

More information about Kokkonen and his views is available online at www.mattforcongress.com, and Capps' campaign website is www.loiscapps.org .

Chuck Schultz can be reached at 925-2691, Ext. 2241, or at cschultz@santamariatimes.com.

October 13, 2008