Howard Berman Runs Ad Showing Brad Sherman Grabbing Him

Dem Calls Opponent 'Too Angry' After Bizarre Grab

The campaign of Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) announced a new ad Wednesday showing footage of a recent incident where his primary rival, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) grabbed his shoulder.

The ad shows footage from a "Today" show report about the altercation, as a narrator says, "Brad Sherman claims to have our values. But now we know that he’s ineffective, mean and too angry."

"Brad Sherman is just not fit to represent us."

Sherman is then quoted as saying, "You wanna get into this?"

The ad is running on San Fernando Valley cable, according to the Berman campaign.

The unusually physical confrontation drew national attention in an otherwise local primary. Berman and Sherman were at a campaign forum on Thursday, when Sherman took his shoulder and pulled him close and said, "You want to get into this?" Berman had told Sherman before to "get out of my face" over a dispute on immigration. A sheriff's deputy briefly put his hand on Sherman's shoulder after the confrontation.

Sherman said on Friday that he regretted the incident. "I touched him, I put my arm around his shoulder, I should not have done that," he told the Associated Press.

Berman, 71, and Sherman, 57, are locked in a tough member-vs.-member primary in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles after a ballot proposition created an independent panel to redraw districts. Sherman's new district includes much of his old one. Berman has the endorsements of Gov. Jerry Brown (D) and California Sens. Barbara Boxer (D) and Dianne Feinstein (D).

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