United States v. Almazan-Becerra, 456 F.3d 949 (9th Cir. August 1, 2006) ("The government tried to save the enhancement at oral argument by pointing to a statement of the counsel of Almazan-Becerra suggesting that the charged conduct involved sales. This argument is waived, however, both for the government's failure to raise it in its opening brief, see Smith v. Marsh, 194 F.3d 1045, 1052 (9th Cir.1999) ("on appeal, arguments not raised by a party in its opening brief are deemed waived"), and for its failure to raise it before the district court, see Monetary II Ltd. P'ship v. Comm'r, 47 F.3d 342, 347(9th Cir.1995) ("As a general rule, an appellate court will not consider arguments which were not first raised before the district court, absent a showing of exceptional circumstances") (internal quotations and citation omitted).").
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0510056p.pdf

Note: United States v. Almazan-Becerra, ___ F.3d ___, 2007 WL 926486 (9th Cir. March 29, 2007) (making minor changes to prior opinion regarding Booker issues - new opinion otherwise the same as prior), prior opinion cited at 456 F.3d 949 (9th Cir. Aug. 1, 2006) is hereby withdrawn.