Caine: Will it be a Blue Dog vs. a Red Dog? Stay tuned

by Eric Caine

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What are the odds Dennis Cardoza is worried? When Republican Mike Berryhill announced he would run against the incumbent Democrat, Cardoza got a boost from House Majority leader Steny Hoyer, who toured the San Joaquin Valley extolling Cardoza's political virtues and lamenting the lack of government support for a region in dire need help from Washington.

The following weekend, Bee editor Mark Vasché wrote that what Cardoza does "in terms of not just identifying solutions but getting Hoyer and the Democratic-controlled Congress and White House to provide the resources to implement them will determine how he fares when election time rolls around next year."

The message seems to be that Cardoza's political future might depend on how much federal aid he can deliver to his valley constituents, who have long been on the short end of government assistance.

The threat of a name-brand opponent would give any politician reason for concern, and the Berryhill name carries plenty of clout. Berryhill's uncle, Clare Berryhill, served in both the California Assembly and Senate. Clare's sons, Bill and Tom, currently serve in the Assembly.

Mike Berryhill, however, faces a formidable obstacle in the form of the valley's longtime schizophrenic political identity. On the one hand, valley residents have tended to avow strong conservative values and old-fashioned Republican virtues.

They've been especially anti-government and anti-regulation.

On the other hand, the valley's agricultural economy has long relied on state and federal assistance. Everything from water delivery to water subsidies to water allocations depends on government money, and that's just the beginning of a long list of government aid.

Longtime valley residents remember John McFall and Tony Coelho fondly because both delivered plenty of federal assistance to their constituents. Coelho's clout stemmed from his position as Democratic whip and his genius for fund-raising.

Among his many feats of government legerdemain, he was able to get dairymen federal assistance for going out of business and slaughtering cattle.

The current solution to the valley's split political personality is the Blue Dog Democrat guise adopted by both Cardoza and his disgraced predecessor, Gary Condit. Blue Dogs avoid the despised "liberal" label by bucking the party line on some issues while at the same time trying to live up to Coelho's and McFall's standards by delivering government money to a region far-removed from the path of the federal gravy train.

Berryhill's other problem is the current state of the Republican Party, which has been on life support since the presidential election. Traditionally, Republicans oppose government assistance. That stance won't do Berryhill much good in a region begging for assistance of any kind. Berryhill must find a way to promise even more than Cardoza does and then he must convince voters he can deliver.

The lesson is that one man's pork is another man's entitlement. No one is happy with politicians these days, but it may take more than a name-brand candidate to threaten an incumbent member of the party in power. Berryhill may find he needs to re-invent his party label so it fits the local political preference for big spenders in small government clothing: Anyone for a Red Dog Republican?

Caine, a Modesto resident, teaches in the humanities department at Merced College. E-mail him at columns@modbee.com.