Republicans and Democrats can fight like cats and dogs, but sometimes the most intense disagreements happen in intraparty contests.

Under California’s new election rules, the top two vote getters from the primary meet in the general election. With a major overhaul of its redistricting process, some general election races are pitting Democrat again Democrat and Republican against Republican.

In the northern Los Angeles area around Hollywood, two veteran Democratic Congressman, Brad Sherman and Howard Berman are facing off in one of the nastiest races in the country.

Ideologically, the difference between these two candidates is minute. That leaves only personalities to define the candidates. Both candidates recently debated at a San Fernando Valley community college, and it did not go well.

The debate became heated to the point that Sherman aggressively put his arm around Berman and shouted, “Do you want to get into this?”

The audience became disturbed at the sight that two Congressmen were edging close to some fisticuffs. A police officer stepped between the two, separating them.

Afterwards, the Sherman campaign blamed Berman for instigating the incident by calling Sherman “delusional.” Later, Sherman did express his regret that his “emotions” got in the way. The Berman campaign also accused Sherman of losing “his mind” and acting “like a bully.”

Polls are showing Sheman with a 45% to 32% lead with a large chunk of undecideds. After this unruly debate performance by Sherman, that margin might narrow a bit.