Veteran politico Dan Lungren showed Wednesday he grasps the nuances of Plymouth's casino issue.

Lungren, R-Gold River, addressed constituents in Martell to end a day of stumping in California's 3rd Congressional District. In response to a question from anti-casino activist Butch Cranford, Lungren gave chapter and verse on the complex legal tangle involving efforts toward a Plymouth-area casino by the Ione Band of Miwok Indians.

"When we became a state, there was a bounty on Indians - men, women and children," Lungren said. "There was a checkered relationship, with little incentive to say one was an Indian, and not many did so. Now, there's a resurgence of interest in the past. Is that band a recognized band? There have been three different decisions - no, yes and no. I don't know where that's going to come out. There's special legislation to say that even if no historic interest by a band exists in a piece of land, a casino can be built there."

Cranford said, "Do you have a copy of the latest legal opinion?" Lungren granted Cranford's request for the copy.

Overall, the session sponsored by the Amador County Republican Central Committee set off varying facets of the Lungren political character - a rigid foreign-policy ideologue, a flexible moderate elsewhere on national issues and an astute public servant on local issues.

Not addressing the nation's economic peril until well into his half-hour speech, Lungren first burnished his Reagan-Republican badge.

"The Pentagon computer system is being attacked thousands of times a day," Lungren said. "The electric grid has been attacked by presumably foreign forces. We're vulnerable because we use systems that make us powerful."

Lungren tsk-tsked over recent actions by President Barack Obama, which he styled as "apologizing for America." He referred to Obama's recent visit to Turkey.

"We have been saving lives in the Muslim world," Lungren said.

He accused Obama of "undercutting" moderate Muslims, making no mention of Obama's recent proposal to seek out moderate Taliban members in Afghanistan.

One audience member said, "Obama wants to make a nuclear-free world. How safe is that?"

Lungren said, "I'm going to surprise you. I think we can reduce our nuclear inventory to 3,000 warheads. I sponsor, with a liberal Democrat from Massachusetts, legislation to bring ours down to 3,000 and negotiate with Russia to do the same. We need to work with other countries, find out where weapons are. We need to utilize some money (previously spent on nuclear weapons) for education of young people in Africa. That's called 'soft diplomacy.' When people have no hope, they have more potential to be recruited."

Giving no background on causes of the current economic crisis, Lungren criticized Obama on taxation and spending to mitigate the problem. He predicted the median tax rate would continue to rise.

"We're looking at the first generation to be bequeathed a generation poorer than their parents," he said. "It shouldn't take too much to get in a conversation with young people of voting age."

Roger Phelps