A challenger puts on his game face

Sacramento Bee ^ | 4/1/6 | E.J. Schultz

[SmithL]

If you're looking for a blood-letting, money-spending, down-and-dirty campaign fight, you might want to look somewhere other than Assembly District 34.

Sure, this sprawling district - running from Porterville to Needles - is one of the few districts in the Central Valley with a competitive primary election. But the challenger, Republican Jon Zellhoefer, has no expectation of ousting incumbent Bill Maze, R-Visalia.

"I think he's doing a very good job," Zellhoefer says of his opponent.

It's hardly the kind of zinger that's going to grab headlines.

So why run?

"I really expected that (Maze) was not going to run," Zellhoefer said.

Like many, Zellhoefer expected Maze to run for state Sen. Roy Ashburn's seat when it looked as though Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, would run to replace retiring Rep. Bill Thomas in Congress.

But just before the election filing deadline, Ashburn said he wasn't going to enter the race for the House seat, opening the Republican field for Assembly Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

By that time, Zellhoefer had declared his candidacy for the Assembly seat and paid the $1,109 filing fee.

"Once you run, you can't unrun," he said.