One of Rep. Darrell Issa's opponents in the Nov. 4 election would have voted for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout.

The other man who wants to unseat the Vista Republican would have voted against it.

Issa voted against it twice -- but for different reasons.

The nation's unfolding financial crisis provides a glimpse at the differences among the three candidates competing for a two-year term in the House of Representatives to represent the 49th Congressional District.

The district takes in Oceanside, Vista, Camp Pendleton, Fallbrook, Temecula, Lake Elsinore and the backcountry around Lake Henshaw.

Beyond the economy, the candidates also disagree on war and the energy.

As for the credit crisis, this is where the candidates stand:

Lars Grossmith, a Vista financial services manager who is the Libertarian Party's flag-bearer in the race, said government meddling several years ago was largely what put Wall Street into the mess it finds itself in.

"A lot of it goes back to the easy money," said Grossmith, 49. "They drove (interest) rates down so low that everybody wanted to buy a house, and that inflated the market."

Now the housing bubble's collapse is causing many banks to fail. That's just fine, as far as Grossmith is concerned.

"Let those companies fail that need to fail," he said. "That lets people know that if you make bad decisions and you fail, you're going to go out of business."

And those financial institutions that survive will be the ones who make sound investments, and they are the ones the country should be building a new economy around, he said.

Robert Hamilton, the Democratic candidate and a 62-year-old retired businessman who lives in Fallbrook, said the financial crisis had become so deep that Congress needed to act.

"I think it would have been virtually disastrous if we hadn't done something," Hamilton said.

He said his vote in favor of the $700 billion package would not have been about rescuing investors who made bad decisions.

"I'm not worried about the tycoons on Wall Street," Hamilton said. "I do worry, however, about Main Street. … In the little communities around the country, credit was frozen."

Issa, 54, said there is a better way to unfreeze credit for Americans looking for loans to buy houses and cars, and that's why he voted against the package.

Rather than buy up banks' bad mortgage investments, Congress should have loaned money to them, Issa said.

With an obligation to repay the government with interest later, financial institutions would have had no choice but to lend that money to consumers in order to cover their interest cost. As it is, he said, banks are just hoarding the free cash they are getting from the government.

And the market remains in turmoil, he said.

"My belief is they had exactly the wrong solution," Issa said.

But other issues are of importance in the race, too.

On the war, going to Iraq was exactly the wrong idea, said Hamilton, and it is time to lay out a clear plan for leaving.

"The Iraqis are telling us to leave and we should be serving notice that we are going to be there only so much longer," Hamilton said. "I think a year is reasonable."

Grossmith would pull the troops out in six months.

"You can't pull them all out tomorrow, but I would have them out as soon as we can," he said. "I don't want any more Americans dying over there to help build nations for other people."

Issa, however, said the United States needs to keep its troops there for two to four more years.

"You can't just up and leave, and leave behind genocide and chaos," he said.

Issa added the U.S. already is scaling down operations as Iraqi leaders take on increasingly more responsibility for their country's future, and he would work to accelerate that trend.

On energy, Hamilton opposes the proposed Lake Elsinore hydroelectric project in the Cleveland National Forest, with its associated power line running to San Diego County, because he said it would take a toll on the forest environment.

Issa stressed, however, that in order to bring in green power such as solar and wind the region is going to have to build new transmission lines, such as the one proposed in Riverside County, to plug into. And he said he wants to keep the Lake Elsinore project on the table and let federal agencies determine whether it merits pursuing.

"There is somebody against every project," Issa said. "And if you don't do any of them, the lights go out in Southern California."

Grossmith said the move toward green energy should not be made, however, with government subsidies. Rather, he said, politicians should get out of the way and let entrepreneurs and the free market develop it.

"If someone can invent a better and cheaper form of energy (than oil), we'll all line up to use it," he said.

The X factor

When the lights go on at the polls on Election Day, voters should consider other factors, too, candidates say.

Grossmith said voters should consider that he is the only one who would truly work for smaller government and less government intrusion into their lives.

"It's either a lot more government or a little more government (with the major party candidates)," he said. "I encourage people not to waste their vote, and vote for me."

Hamilton suggested that he is best positioned to represent the district, as his home is in the center and he conducts business in a wide circle around it. He said he buys suits in Escondido, groceries in Fallbrook, seed for his bird feeder in Oceanside and books and sunglasses in Temecula.

"This is the year, maybe, for an upset," Hamilton added. "The young people are excited about (Democratic presidential candidate Barack) Obama, so maybe they will become excited about me at election time."

But at election time, experience often is a key consideration of voters. And Issa has eight years' experience in Congress, having first been elected in 2000.

Issa said he would use that experience, at a time when the economy is wobbly, to push for a change in unemployment insurance so that it provides basic health care to people who lose their jobs.

Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 745-6611, Ext. 2623, or ddowney@nctimes.com.

49th Congressional District

Darrell Issa, Republican

Age: 54

Residence: Vista

Education: Bachelor's degree in business, Siena Heights University

Employment: U.S. representative

Campaign Web site: www.issaforcongress.com

Lars Grossmith, Libertarian

Age: 49

Residence: Vista

Education: Bachelor's degree in economics, San Diego State University; master's in business administration, Cal State Dominguez Hills

Employment: financial services manager

Campaign Web site: www.lp.org

Robert Hamilton, Democrat

Age: 62

Residence: Fallbrook

Education: Bachelor's degree in political science, UCLA

Employment: retired international businessman

Campaign Web site: www.roberthamiltonforcongress.com