I tend to cringe when I see "pragmatic" associated with Republican, as that screams "RINO." Let the pragmatics run in ultrarodent districts. Whatever Pombo's shortcomings, I still wouldn't mind seeing him make a comeback.
If you look at the ratings that different advocacy groups gave him, it seems that Houston is more conservative than "pragmatic." I wouldn't mind a quiet conservative from Contra Costa running in that district---he'd probably beat McNerney like a rented mule and go on to have a voting record just as good as Richard Pombo's.