Thanks to some stellar fundraising in the past two quarters, physician Ami Bera has managed to scare off some potential rivals and avoid a Democratic primary for the Congressional seat in CA-03. His main competitor, Bill Slaton, dropped out today and endorsed Bera. Bera now has a clear path to the general election against incumbent Republican Dan Lungren. According to this article in Hotline:

Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA) -- one of a shrinking number of targeted GOP incumbents this cycle -- now knows his general election challenger: physician Ami Bera (D).

That's because Bera's opponent, Sacramento Municipal Utility Dir. Bill Slaton (D), dropped out of the race today and endorsed Bera. "The more I have spoken to people about what I can contribute to public policy and the more I have listened to their concerns," Slaton wrote, "the clearer it has become that my best opportunity for service lies right here at home."

Bera is one of the few challengers this cycle who managed to put strong back-to-back fundraising quarters together, and has become one of the party's top candidates. He's raised $585K so far, putting him in the top-5 fundraisers for Dem challengers. Slaton, who had over $400K cash-on-hand (thanks to an injection of nearly $300K of his own cash into the race), is the second Dem to depart the race; Elk Grove Councilor Gary Davis (D) dropped out of the contest earlier this year.

This should be a great race as Lungren only narrowly defeated Democrat Bill Durston 49-44 in the 2008 election cycle.