Voters Elect Wind Energy Advocate To Congress

"The elite of their party dismissed them as clutter. They were outspent by their opponents by as much as 10 to 1, their campaigns engineered not by slick Washington consultants, but friends and neighbors.

Up on Capitol Hill, they've taken to calling [Jerry] McNerney the dragon slayer for taking down Rep. Richard W. Pombo of Tracy, the powerful chairman of the House Resources Committee who had won handily seven times in his Republican-leaning Northern California district...[Pembo's] affiliation with convicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and attempts to dismantle the Endangered Species Act, [got him] labeled "Eco-thug" and "Wildlife Enemy No. 1 ."