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Within hours of taking her oath of office, Congresswoman Janice Hahn stepped headlong into the looming debate over the nation's debt ceiling.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn is continuing her quest to define Republican rival Craig Huey with the release of a television spot accusing him of using "junk-mail scams" to aid business clients who later ran into legal trouble.

The 30-second spot by the Democrat is scheduled to be released Thursday and begin airing this weekend on cable channels across the 36th Congressional District.

Huey, the owner of a Torrance marketing agency, responded Wednesday by saying the actions by and against the parties mentioned in the ad have "nothing to do" with him.

"I've had over 600 clients, and you're going to find someone with something that's negative," said Huey.

The commercial, entitled "Scam," is aimed at seniors and references Huey client Donald H. Rowe, who wrote Wall Street Digest, a Sarasota, Fla.-based investment newsletter.

Last year, Rowe was sued for millions of dollars in federal court after allegations surfaced that he took money to promote hedge funds that turned out to be a Ponzi scheme.

Hahn's ad also mentions two direct-mail companies - Huey patrons as well - that were charged with violating federal law for claiming their products could cure Alzheimer's disease, among other maladies.

The companies, G.B. Data and Gero Vito International, were parties to a $605,000 settlement in June 2005 with the FTC.

Huey acknowledged he worked on two projects for those clients.

He also accused Hahn of dirty politics.

"Going out and looking for a client that may have had some type of problem with somebody is so unethical, so wrong and so misleading," Huey said.

Hahn campaign manager Dave Jacobson disagreed.

"The reality is, Craig Huey makes his money off of scams and false advertising direct mail," Jacobson said. "It's important for voters to know how he makes his money and how he can afford to pump $500,000 into his primary campaign."

Huey loaned $500,000 to his campaign to fund his primary efforts, earning second place behind Hahn in a 16-candidate May primary that included veteran Democrat Debra Bowen, California's secretary of state.

Hahn and Huey face off in the July 12 runoff.

The script of the television spot:

NARRATOR: Junk mail scams target seniors, and direct-mail marketer Craig Huey knew what he was doing.

Huey promoted a Wall Street newsletter that was sued by victims as a Ponzi scheme. Seniors lost millions.

Huey promoted two direct-mail nutrition companies that had to pay huge fines for scams that bilked seniors with phony cures for Alzheimer's.

Now Huey is running for Congress with a plan to end Medicare as we know it.

Scam artist? Or extremist?

Seniors can't trust Craig Huey.

JANICE HAHN: I'm Janice Hahn and I approved this message.

Underdog Democratic candidate Dan Adler has already brought Hollywood to the special election for the 36th Congressional District. Now, he plans to bring a little Founding Fathers.

Adler, an entertainment industry executive and former vice president at Walt Disney Imagineering who lives in Los Angeles, has been airing ads on cable and is about to launch a spot offering up to five citizens (presumably unconnected to politics) the opportunity to work on Capitol Hill - if he gets elected.

That's a sizable if, considering his challengers. Insiders and political calculus point to Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn of San Pedro and California Secretary of State Debra Bowen of Marina del Rey as the most likely candidates to win the May 17 election or the July 12 runoff, if that's needed.

But Adler's campaign has shown signs of life in the past few weeks. He raised more than $110,000 in the most recent Federal Election Commission reporting period, according to filings. And ActBlue, a website that serves as a donations clearinghouse for Democrats, shows that Adler has collected $125,814, second only to Bowen's $152,101.

The jobs offer is part of the concept of "citizen legislators," which Adler says is a central theme of his campaign.

"If there's any single message I'm really committed to getting across, it's this notion that there's no anointed candidates," said Adler. "There is nobody who has earned the right to this seat. That's not what our system of democracy is about."

Candidates can begin a formal application process on Adler's campaign website in the coming days.

Those who would receive job offers would be placed "as high in the office as their qualifications warrant," Adler said.

Adler's campaign has drawn national attention in recent days for celebrity support that has includes former Walt Disney executive Michael Eisner, actress Patty Duke and singer Macy Gray.

Duke's son, actor Sean Astin of "The Goonies" and "Lord of the Rings" fame, is also serving as Adler's campaign manager.

Adler's team has leveraged his financial and Hollywood backing into a series of viral videos, some of which are airing on cable channels like MSNBC.

The videos, including a "Rudy" spoof featuring Astin and Adler, can be viewed here.

A California physicians group that represents medical malpractice insurers has spent $51,092 on two political mailings to help the congressional campaign of Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, according to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission.

The Cooperative of American Physicians disclosed the expenditures on April 22 and April 28.

Last year, the organization was one of several political action committees that banded together against Betsy Butler in the June Democratic primary for the 53rd Assembly District.

Butler, who won the primary and in November, the assembly seat, was targeted by the PACs because of her fundraising ties to the state's environmental nonprofits and trial lawyer's association.

Butler has endorsed California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, Hahn's main rival in the 16-candidate May 17 election.

Hahn, whose campaign is heavily supported by those with interests in the city of Los Angeles, led all candidates in the first finance reports filed last month. Pre-election FEC reports are due May 5.

California Secretary of State Debra Bowen is preparing to release a jobs blueprint to bolster her bid for a South Bay Congressional seat, while her campaign obliquely criticized the specific employment claims made by a rival's plan.

Labeling it a "monumental" endorsement, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn of San Pedro announced Tuesday that the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO is endorsing her campaign for the 36th Congressional District.

The labor group, which represents more than 350 unions with membership in excess of 800,000 workers, is expected to add significant fundraising and get-out-the-vote clout to Hahn's bid to succeed former Rep. Jane Harman, who resigned last month to lead a Washington think tank.

Hahn is one of three prominent Democrats running for the coastal district stretching from Venice to San Pedro. California Secretary of State Debra Bowen of Marina del Rey, who represented much of the South Bay in the state Legislature from 1992-2006, has declared her candidacy. Santa Monica resident, anti-war activist and high school teacher Marcy Winograd has also entered the race. Winograd took 41 percent of the vote in last June's Democratic primary against Harman.

Three South Bay Republicans have also begun campaigns. They are: Redondo Beach City Attorney Mike Webb; Redondo Beach Mayor Mike Gin, who, in order to campaign, has taken a leave of absence from his position as a field deputy to Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe; and Hermosa Beach City Councilman Kit Bobko, an attorney and graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy.

According to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's Office, 20 people have taken nomination papers for the race. Prospective candidates have until 5 p.m. Friday to file.

The primary will be held May 17. 

If no candidate wins a majority then, the top-two vote getters regardless of party would advance to a July 12 runoff.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday called a May 17 special primary election for Jane Harman's former South Bay congressional seat.

Brown had planned to consolidate the 36th Congressional District election with an early June statewide ballot measure to extend temporary tax increases, but missed the deadline as Democrats and Republicans in Sacramento remain at loggerheads over the issue.

Harman, a Democrat, resigned on Feb. 28 to take a position leading the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a nonpartisan Washington think tank.

Several Democrats have lined up to succeed her, including Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn of San Pedro and California Secretary of State Debra Bowen of Marina del Rey. Anti-war activist and high school teacher Marcy Winograd of Santa Monica, the Democrat who won 41 percent of the vote against Harman in last June's primary, is also running.

Among Republicans, Redondo Beach Mayor Mike Gin and City Attorney Mike Webb have declared bids. Last week, Hermosa Beach City Councilman Kit Bobko announced his candidacy.

Insiders consider Hahn and Bowen to be the front runners.

Allan Hoffenblum, a former GOP consultant who co-edits the California Target Book, a nonpartisan guide to state elections, said whoever wins the race could face re-election in 2012 in a substantially-different district after political boundaries are redrawn this year.

The 36th Congressional District currently stretches from Venice down the coast to San Pedro.

Hoffenblum envisioned a new district that includes the Palos Verdes Peninsula, home to a sizable Republican voting bloc.

With that potential political sunlight on the horizon, Republicans may be positioning themselves for the next election cycle.

"Mike Gin wants to make sure Mike Webb doesn't jump ahead of him," said Hoffenblum. "Kit Bobko wants to make sure the Redondo Beach guys don't jump ahead of him."

"These aren't flakes, these are good candidates," Hoffenblum continued. "These are the types of candidates that Republicans would surely be trying to recruit (in 2012)."

The election to replace Harman will be the first congressional race to test the state's new "jungle primary" law.

If no candidate wins a majority of votes and takes the seat outright, the top two vote getters advance to a July 12 special general election, even if they are members of the same party.

Hoffenblum predicted turnout for the special primary of between 15 and 25 percent.

Anti-war activist and progressive Democrat Marcy Winograd said Thursday that she's planning a weekend announcement initiating a run for a soon-to-be-vacated South Bay congressional seat.

The announcement will be made at 10 a.m. Saturday at Fox Drugs, 1327 El Prado Ave. in Torrance, said Winograd.

Winograd, a Santa Monica resident, took 41 percent of the vote in last June's 36th Congressional District primary against Rep. Jane Harman, who is expected to resign Monday to lead the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a Washington think tank.

Explaining her decision to run, Winograd said, "I feel that we need a real progressive in the race, somebody who has been advocating for a long, long time that we need to transition from a war economy to a green economy."

Winograd's entry complicates a Democratic field that includes California Secretary of State Debra Bowen and Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn of San Pedro.

Last Friday, Hahn called on Bowen to sign a pledge supporting Israel that condemns statements made by Winograd.

The move appeared to be designed to bait Winograd into joining the race, which could cut into the liberal base of Bowen, who lives in Marina del Rey. Bowen quickly obliged and signed the pledge. The letter can be viewed here.

The gambit seems to have worked.

"It was part of my decision," Winograd said. "Clearly she wanted to provoke. I don't doubt that."

"I thought that it was a very sad commentary that people who are running for office would feel compelled to sign a document that, right or wrong, they're going to support another country regardless of what that country does."

It's worth noting that Winograd is Jewish. Winograd also said that Hahn asked for her endorsement.

Reaction was subdued from the camps of Bowen and Hahn regarding Winograd entering the race.

Bowen campaign consultant Steve Barkan had no comment.

Dave Jacobson, a Hahn spokesman, said the campaign always assumed that Winograd would run.

"We're focused on getting Janice's message out, talking about jobs and getting our economy back on track," said Jacobson.