"Doug Denneny considered Bill Clinton "a draft dodger" and didn't vote for a Democratic presidential candidate until Al Gore in 2000. As a naval commander, he served a legislative fellowship with Republican Sen. John McCain.

The Iraq war veteran, a candidate for the Democratic nomination in Northern Virginia's 11th Congressional District, is asking primary voters to accept his conversion as a genuine change of heart.

"I got smart and changed my ways," said Denneny, a boyish and freckle-faced 45, whose fellow naval aviators nicknamed him "Boog" for his more-than-passing resemblance to Boog Powell, the Baltimore Orioles slugger of the 1960s and '70s.

He faces long odds in the June 10 contest against two prominent Democrats who aspire to replace the retiring Rep. Tom Davis (R). Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly and former U.S. representative Leslie L. Byrne are well-established brands in Northern Virginia politics. Another first-time candidate, Mount Vernon physical therapist Lori Alexander, is also competing for the nomination.

Denneny says his military experience, which includes a stint flying missions over Iraq as executive officer and commanding officer of an F-14 Tomcat and F/A-18 Super Hornet squadron, has taught how to make difficult calls under challenging circumstances. He describes it as his "skill set and decision base."

Denneny is pushing hard to overcome his deficit in name recognition. On Saturday, he walked from Vienna to the steps of the Capitol to deliver what he calls "a smart, phased withdrawal plan" for U.S. forces in Iraq. Denneny, who received a Distinguished Flying Cross for his service in Operation Iraqi Freedom, said that there is no possibility of a military victory and that peace will come only when the government of Iraq negotiates a settlement among rival factions.

He said he made the walk Saturday as an act of solidarity with those still in the war zone.

"It's a statement of how serious I am about change," said Denneny, who has worked for Boeing, selling aircraft, since his retirement from the Navy in 2006.

Denneny said he is not a one-issue candidate but a "new generation Democrat" committed to fiscal responsibility and progressive social policies. He said he wants to strengthen the economy, improve Northern Virginia's transportation infrastructure and address the challenges posed by global climate change. Denneny also said he would work to reform the No Child Left Behind Act to better meet the needs of English-language learners and special education students.

He criticized Connolly's recent proposal that Fairfax County buy foreclosed homes and sell them back to low- and moderate-income families as "his default big government approach" to the problem. Denneny said the best way to help struggling families in the county is with "substantial and targeted" property tax relief.

If elected, he said, his first choice of a committee would be Armed Services, and he would sever all financial ties with Boeing.

Byrne and Connolly have, for the most part, ignored Denneny. They've focused most of their time and resources on a two-person race, brandishing long lists of endorsements and questioning each other's electability in November.

Some Democrats say Denneny has at times overreached in his zeal to get attention. This month, his campaign announced that he had accepted an invitation to an April 14 debate at George Mason University to be sponsored by the Fairfax County Young Democrats.

Rafael A. Arancibia Jr., co-president of the group, said that no invitation had been extended and no other campaigns consulted and that Denneny's staff popped out a news release barely a day after a Denneny organizer approached Arancibia with the idea. Arancibia also said he was led to believe that other campus groups were prepared to co-sponsor the event. But the Young Democrats was the only group mentioned in the announcement.

Denneny acknowledged that his campaign reached out to the group in an attempt to "inspire a debate," but he said there had been no intent to deceive.

The episode dismayed Arancibia, who called it a needless distraction at a time when the traumas of war have touched families all over Northern Virginia. He mentioned Army Spec. Patrick Hanley, the son of Commonwealth Secretary Katherine K. Hanley (D), who was seriously wounded shortly before the end of his 15-month tour.

"I don't like seeing things like this taking away from the real concentration we need to be having," he said.

The campus debate collapsed. But this week, the 11th District Democratic Committee announced plans to sponsor four candidate debates before the primary.

Denneny, who is president of the Mantua Citizens Association, is a relative newcomer to the 11th District. The son of an engineer and a schoolteacher, he was born in San Diego and grew up in Scottsdale, Ariz. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1984 and spent 15 years as a naval flight officer, flying in the back seat of F-14s. After returning from Iraq in 2004, he served as an aide to two chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers and Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace.

As a military officer, Denneny said, he kept his politics to himself. But after spending most of his career as a Republican, he became disenchanted with the party's lack of commitment to the disadvantaged. He cites his viewing of the 1994 documentary "Hoop Dreams," about two Chicago youths and their aspirations to play professional basketball, as a transforming moment.

"There are people in this world who need social safety nets," he said." (Bill Turque, The Washington Post, April 15, 2008)