[UPDATE] Mike’s campaign site is now up; contribute here.

CA-18 is a D+4 district that voted for Bush in 2004; incumbent Cardoza ran unopposed in 2008.  Of course, that was before unemployment in Cardoza’s district hit double digits*, and why Cardoza’s yelling for help from the federal government, while treating Speaker Pelosi like the radioactive career-killer that she is.  Mind you, Cardoza’s also ducking those inconveniently public town halls in favor of nice, controllable mass phone calls; which tells you everything that you need to know about his interest in his consituency.  Or his personal moral courage.

So he’s getting a challenge: Mike Berryhill, who’s a local irrigation district director – and apparently annoyed.

“Someone needs to step up to the plate and take on Dennis Cardoza,” Berryhill said. “He’s really had a free ride in the last couple of elections. I feel like the people in our area are not being represented.”

“Representation.”  Ha!  Doesn’t he understand that Blue Dog Democratic districts are only there to empower liberal Democratic agendas?

Moe Lane

PS: No website yet – he only just announced – but the CA GOP site is here.

*How much of this can be attributed to the federal government deciding that preserving the Delta Smelt was more important than preserving San Joaquin farmlands is up to the reader; the San Joaquin valley is very large, but you can’t shut down entire industries virtually overnight and not expect fallout.

Crossposted to Moe Lane.