McClintock expected to enter race today

State Sen. Tom McClintock will announce today whether he will seek the Republican nomination for John Doolittle’s congressional seat — and the legislator from Southern California is widely expected to enter the race.

Nevada County Supervisor Sue Horne on Friday endorsed McClintock, though he hadn't made his announcement official. GOP insiders attending the state Republican convention in San Francisco last month also expected him to run. A “Draft Tom” for Congress campaign has been growing momentum.

McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, is set to announce his intentions at 10 a.m. on the steps of the Placer County Courthouse at 101 Maple St. in Auburn.

"State Senator Tom McClintock will be publicly announcing his intention to seek the office of Congressman representing the 4th Congressional district," said a longtime Placer County GOP leader Ken Campbell in a memo to "Placer County Republican Friends," which was forwarded to The Union. "Senator McClintock called me a week ago to inform me he was going to run for Congress."

Republican Party activists aggressively have courted the well-known conservative state senator to seek the seat Doolittle is vacating.

The 4th Congressional District has long been recognized as a Republican stronghold, but Rep. Doolittle, R-Roseville, appeared to be losing his grip on the district in 2006 when he lost Nevada County to Democrat Charlie Brown. Despite the cloud of a corruption investigation that still has led to no charges, Doolittle ended up winning the district by about 9,000 votes.

Former Rep. Doug Ose, former state Sen. Rico Oller and local businessman Theodore Terbolizard all have announced their intentions to seek the Republican nomination. Brown is seeking the Democratic nomination.

Earlier this year, Doolittle announced he wouldn’t seek re-election as the U.S. Justice Department continues to investigate his involvement with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

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Jeff Pelline contributed to this report.