- While a new poll shows that Proposition 77, the redistricting initiative, is in trouble with the voters, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also faces a revolt from GOP congress members worried that the initiative could cost them their seats.

Fewer than half of California's 20-member GOP delegation have endorsed the initiative, while others are actively working against the measure.

Earlier this month, Conservative Rep. John Doolittle, R-Rocklin (Placer County), joined forces with liberal Rep. Howard Berman, D-North Hollywood, to persuade the Federal Election Commission to allow them to collect unlimited amounts of money to fight the initiative.

Political differences that separate politicians like Doolittle and Berman disappear when re-election is at stake, said Bob Stern of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles.

"This is one of the few times you'll see one of the most conservative congressmen ... and one of the most liberal ... working together for a single purpose: 'Protect me!' '' he said.

The dustup between Schwarzenegger and the GOP congressional delegation has forced Duf Sundheim, the state party chairman, to call for a cease-fire. The party has endorsed Prop. 77, he said, and no Republican officeholder should be raising money against it.

"This is very difficult for some congressmen, and we understand their situation, but this is something that has to be done,'' Sundheim said. "Even if the system is sometimes gamed in your favor, you can't let it stand.''

Still, when Schwarzenegger was looking for support earlier this year, only eight GOP congressmen, including Dan Lungren of Gold River (Sacramento County) and Bill Thomas of Bakersfield, could be persuaded to back Prop. 77.

But other Republicans such as Richard Pombo of Tracy and David Dreier of San Dimas (Los Angeles County) could be hurt by the redistricting plan. Dreier, the chairman of the House Rules Committee and one of Schwarzenegger's closest allies in Washington, had the tightest race of any GOP congressman in 2004, winning just 54 percent of the vote in a district surrounded by Democratic enclaves.

The prospect of a well-funded, bipartisan campaign against the redistricting plan is more bad news for Schwarzenegger. A poll released this week by the Public Policy Institute of California showed likely voters opposed Prop. 77 by 49 percent to 34 percent.

The Doolittle-Berman effort shows the trouble Schwarzenegger faces in Congress. The congressmen are a true political odd couple, veteran legislators with virtually nothing in common. Doolittle's district includes Northern California's rural Mother Lode, along with the fast-growing suburbs north of Sacramento, while Berman, 64, represents the urban San Fernando Valley. Doolittle, 54, has a lifetime 100 percent rating from the National Rifle Association and a zero rating from the American Civil Liberties Union. Berman has a zero lifetime rating from the NRA and a 90 percent mark from the ACLU.

Yet both backed the 2002 redistricting plan, which supporters and opponents alike agreed virtually guaranteed a decade of easy re-election for every member of California's congressional delegation. National Republican leaders loved it because it made it easier for the GOP to keep control of Congress, while state Democratic leaders were able to shore up four marginal seats they had snatched from Republicans in 2000.

"It was a bipartisan gerrymander,'' said Alan Hoffenblum, a former GOP consultant and editor of the California Target Book, a nonpartisan analysis of California elections. "Now, (Congress members) want to hold on to their safe seats.''

It wasn't just Congress that got a political gift in the most recent reapportionment. In the 2004 election, not one of California's 173 Assembly, state Senate and congressional seats switched parties, and only a handful were even at risk. In the 53 congressional races, for example, only three of the winners received less than 60 percent of the vote.

While legislators also would face the uncertainty of new districts if Prop. 77 passes, term limits already guarantee that they have to regularly defend new turf if they want to stay in politics. But since a House seat in a safe district remains the closest thing in politics to a lifetime job, Congress members will be fighting hard for the status quo.

Prop. 77, backed by Schwarzenegger, is designed to eliminate the usual political back-scratching by taking the redistricting power from the Legislature and giving it to a bipartisan panel of retired judges who could draw new lines for the 2006 or, more likely, the 2008 elections. Since the new districts would be drawn without regard for partisan concerns, supporters argue that elections across the state would become more competitive.

That's one of the problems, as far as some congress members are concerned. One of the reasons Doolittle opposes the redistricting initiative is "because of the threat it may pose to maintaining the current Republican majority,'' said Laura Blackann, a spokeswoman for the congressman.

Democrats have no compunctions about opposing the governor's redistricting plan, although no one is admitting that partisan politics may play a role. Both Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D- San Jose, also asked the FEC to clear the way for unlimited anti-Prop. 77 fundraising.

"You can make a case for a commission (to handle reapportionment), but you can't make one for a mid-decade redistricting,'' Lofgren said. "You also need to have a strong minority rights position in any new redistricting law.''

The prospect of facing a new set of voters doesn't bother Lofgren.

"It's hard to say what (Prop. 77) would do to my district,'' she said. "My feeling is give me a district, and I'll run in it.''

That works for Lofgren, whose South Bay constituency is so heavily Democratic that would be virtually impossible to carve out a district where a Republican has a chance. But Democrats such as Ellen Tauscher of Walnut Creek, Jane Harman of Rancho Palos Verdes (Los Angeles County), Dennis Cardoza of Atwater (Merced County) and Susan Davis of San Diego received plenty of help in the last redistricting and could find themselves struggling to hold their seats if Prop. 77 passes.

Even Berman, who's unlikely to face a serious challenge from Republicans, got a boost in 2002. Michael Berman, the congressman's brother, was the reapportionment consultant for the congressional Democrats and drew lines that pushed a number of Latino voters out of Berman's district, making him less vulnerable to a primary challenge. The plan was challenged unsuccessfully in court by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

But even groups with little interest in California's redistricting battle are worried about the unlimited money members of Congress can raise for the special election fight. While the federal McCain-Feingold campaign finance rules typically limit the amount a candidate can raise for a nonfederal elections to $5,000, the FEC ruling earlier this month allows them to collect unlimited amounts of money from unions, corporations and other donors to use in California's special election.

That puts a huge hole in the campaign finance rules, since it lets donors shower senators and members of Congress with huge amounts of money for a political cause that is vitally important to them, said Larry Noble, executive director for the Center for Responsive Politics and former general counsel for the FEC.

"Most big donors don't care why they're giving money, only that a member of Congress is soliciting it,'' he said.

While officeholders in both Washington and Sacramento have learned to live with contribution limits for election campaigns, the no-limits rule will make it easier for opponents in Congress to kill an initiative that could quickly end their political careers.

"It's much more important to raise money to defeat (Prop. 77) than it is to raise money for their own re-election,'' said Stern of the Center for Governmental Studies.

Schwarzenegger and his backers are unhappy with the intraparty opposition but are putting the best face on the dispute.

"Proposition 77 is about taking power away from the politicians and returning it to the public, so it's no big surprise that some politicians of both parties aren't exactly enamored with it,'' said Todd Harris, a spokesman for the governor's political team. "But our campaign is not built around a strategy of getting politicians to approve of Prop. 77.''

E-mail John Wildermuth at jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com.