Lines Redrawn, Longtime Allies Fight for a Seat

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LOS ANGELES — Democrat-on-Democrat warfare has returned to the San Fernando Valley.

After a tiff over the redrawing of their adjacent Congressional districts a decade ago, Representative Brad Sherman and his fellow California Democrat, Representative Howard L. Berman, both won re-election and went on to work cordially — if not lovingly — on home-state legislation to help the region they both serve as House members. Evidently, those days are over.

This redistricting go-round, the two popular, veteran congressmen find themselves running for the same seat in the most high-profile of about a dozen primary races that mark the decennial return of internecine fights that can severely rupture relationships of House members who sit on the same side of the aisle.

“My guess is we probably don’t communicate as much as we used to,” said Mr. Berman about his interaction with Mr. Sherman because of a race that both men would have preferred to do without.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/us/politics/lines-redrawn-longtime-allies-fight-for-a-seat.html?nl=todaysheadlines&adxnnl=1&emc=tha23&adxnnlx=1323450006-N4y1ZOI9wx6j4XNL4kQhZg