Doris Matsui of Sacramento and Dan Lungren of Gold River are finishing up their first terms in their respective congressional seats and, absent an epic upset, are headed back to Washington for second terms.

If a tidal wave of sentiment against President Bush and the war in Iraq emerges in November, it is conceivable that Bill Durston, the likable and intelligent Vietnam veteran running against Lungren and the war, will make the race interesting. But Matsui's seat is so safe for a Democrat, and Lungren's for a Republican, that there appears little chance for much excitement. However, across the country, that's not the case. Polls and trends show an increasing possibility that the Republicans will lose control of the House. Whether or not that happens, the first terms of Matsui and Lungren reveal how they might lead in the future. Both show great promise, yet in very different ways.

For both Matsui and Lungren, their most important local issue is the same -- flood control -- but from different geographical perspectives. Matsui's Sacramento district is squarely in the floodplain. Lungren represents such upstream communities as Folsom, where the big issue is construction of a new bridge across the American River as part of a broader package to improve flood protection at Folsom Dam. As soon as she announced her candidacy to replace her late husband, Bob Matsui, Doris Matsui realized that flood protection was her agenda. From initial conversations it was clear she had things to learn about the complex system of weirs and hydrology. But she has learned (frankly with a passion that her husband, a tax policy wonk, never had) and then some. If Doris Matsui were in the party in power in the House, she would be primed to squeeze every available dollar out of Washington.

On flood control, Lungren has chosen to live in the local shadow of fellow Republican Rep. John Doolittle of Roseville, who has strong views about building a dam near Auburn upstream from Folsom Dam. But Lungren has been no wallflower back in Washington. Concerned about how Washington had changed for the worse since his years in the House representing Long Beach, Lungren was crucial in persuading his party to take ethics reform seriously. He seeks a workable compromise on immigration reform. And he is an important player on national security legislation.

Fiercely partisan Republicans such as Doolittle would quickly become irrelevant in Washington if the Democrats were to take back the House. But Lungren wouldn't suffer that fate. While he has strong views that certainly lean to the right (his environmental record is abysmal), he has a reverence for a bipartisan approach to legislation and is an independent thinker. He's just getting started. So is Matsui. They deserve to be re-elected.