Rep. Brad Sherman and Rep. Howard Berman at a debate forum.

Rep. Brad Sherman and Rep. Howard Berman at a debate forum. (Los Angeles Times / September 13, 2012)

September 13, 2012 | 7:40 a.m.
If the spectacle of two career Democratsgoing at it over bragging rights to Republican support seems odd to you, blame it on California’s new elections system, which sent some candidates from the same party to  duke it out in the fall. 

Those candidates, needing to reach beyond their traditional bases, are scrambling for voters outside their own party. And the competition for opposite-party support has reached ferocious proportions in the high-spending, nationally watched clash between seasoned Democratic Reps. Brad Sherman and Howard Berman. 

The onetime allies have been battling over the same San Fernando Valley congressional seat since new political maps put their homes into the same district.

Democrats outnumber Republicans in the district 48% to 26%, with  21% of voters unaffiliated with any party. Both candidates have stepped up their wooing of voters not traditionally prone to supporting Democrats when they had an alternative.

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Jean Merl, Los Angeles Times