Assemblyman Van Tran, R-Westminster, knew he'd have a battle on his hands when he decided to challenge Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Santa Ana. But that battle could come sooner than expected as GOP opponent Quang X. Pham – still considered an underdog in the primary – is gaining strength.

Tran, Little Saigon's leading political figure, was recruited to challenge Sanchez by the National Republican Campaign Committee and is one of NRCC's top prospects challenging incumbent Democrats. Businessman Pham has never held elected office and changed his voter registration from independent to Republican just before the July 2 announcement of his candidacy.

But Pham is known in Little Saigon, has picked up key backers, and could benefit from a bit of Tran misfortune.

Pham's first challenge is to raise significant money, especially since Tran raked in $250,000 in his first six weeks in the race. Pham's first big fundraiser is Sept. 10 at Newport Beach's exclusive Pacific Club and his host committee includes a couple political players and a bunch of millionaires who know a bunch of other millionaires – the kind of people any candidate would love to have aboard.

Among them: Gen. William Lyon, real estate mogul and a major GOP donor; Tom Davin, president of the Panda Restaurant Group; Rod McDermott, managing director of the McDermott and Bull recruiting firm and a New Majority member; and, Robert Mosier, CEO of the Mosier & Company crisis management firm.

Meanwhile, there's the Aug. 6 headline that could haunt Tran: "Police say Assemblyman Van Tran disrupted DUI investigation." This was the incident where Westminster Councilman Andy Quach was arrested for an allegedly drunken crash, and Tran showed up to help out.

Tran was not arrested and he disputes the police account, but you can rest assured any hit mailer will simply reprint the headline.

Tran still shines brighter than any other politician in Little Saigon, but his golden-boy image doesn't glimmer as it once did there. What was once a relatively united community politically has become increasing fractious, a change that became clear when former Tran protégé Janet Nguyen beat the Tran-backed candidate for county supervisor in 2007.