MODESTO, California -- Rep. Gary Condit, considered a shoo-in for re-election before getting caught up in the case of a missing intern, made a final push in his campaign for the Democratic nomination by quietly roaming a district once known as "Condit Country."
Condit said he expects to win, but can accept defeat graciously. Condit said he would not try to remain in the race as an independent or write-in candidate if he were to lose.
"Things happen in life, things sometimes people can't explain," he said Monday. "My heart's not fluttering, I don't have a pit in my stomach. It's an election. I've been in public service for 30 years. I live and die by the sword."
The winner of the Tuesday primary will face the victor in a four-candidate Republican field for the reconfigured district.
Condit's main opponent is state Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza, who is holding a big advantage according to internal polls. But Cardoza said he's not taking anything for granted. When he was first elected to the Legislature in 1996 with Condit's support he won by 84 votes, the slimmest margin in the state.
Still, his campaigning with Rep. Cal Dooley, Condit's Democratic colleague from the neighboring district, was still another sign of the political fallout since federal intern Chandra Levy vanished in May.
Washington police sources have said Condit admitted he had an affair with Levy, although in media interviews he has refused to reveal the exact nature of their relationship. Law enforcement officials have said he is not a suspect in her disappearance.
Although Cardoza has made little mention of Levy on the campaign trail, indications of her connection to the congressman's fall from grace are all over his office.
Copies of The Globe tabloid are stacked on a table with the cover story, "Condit Caught!" with pictures of the congressman clad in black leather chaps during a motorcycle rally that also attracted scantily clad women.
The wall of his spokesman's office is papered with a political cartoon of Condit seeking support from Girl Scouts and a David Letterman Top 10 list of ways Condit can improve his image (No. 4: "Grow a full, reassuring Kenny Rogers-style beard").
Not all had abandoned Condit, however. A former colleague in the state Legislature, Sen. Steve Peace, sent an independent mailing urging a vote for Condit.
"When people go to Gary Condit for help, Gary helps them," Peace said.
Meanwhile, Condit's wife, Carolyn, said she was optimistic her husband would continue his three-decade winning streak at the polls.
"The whole family is out walking like we have for years," she said. "Today's no different than any other day before the election."
