Updated with comments from 5th district candidate Clyde Cordero.

Spokane-area business consultant and former Army intelligence analyst Clyde Cordero sent out a press release today saying he's jumping in the race for the 5th congressional district, against three-term incumbent Cathy McMorris Rodgers. (This is the week for candidates to file.)

McMorris Rodgers, who serves as the Vice Chair of the Republican Conference (making her the number four ranking Republican in the caucus), has raised $738,080 for her campaign this year, with $551,329 on hand.



McMorris Rodgers soundly defeated Democratic challengers in the last two elections, beating Spokane lawyer Mark Mays in 2008 with 65 percent of the vote, and in 2006, beating current commissioner of public lands Democrat Peter Goldmark 56 to 44.

Cordero's press release says he is running because he was "encouraged by some fellow church members." He doesn't have any experience as an elected official, but hypes his experience in the military, particularly service with the 101st Airborne division during Operation Desert Storm.

"I may work in business, but I learned from my grandparents the dynamic nature of earning a living off the land, too,” Cordero, 50, said in the release.

I have a call in to Cordero to see if I can get some more information on his campaign.

McMorris Rodgers is also being challenged by Constitutional Party candidate Randall Yearout.

I have a call in to the McMorris Rodgers campaign.

UPDATE:

I talked to Cordero on the phone earlier about his campaign, and why he's decided to run against McMorris Rodgers. Cordero says he has a "general disagreement with [McMorris Rodgers] on the way government should work."

"She's been an obstructionist, just saying no to everything that could help, and trying to keep the administration and the Democratic Congress from having any kind of success," said Cordero. He echoed familiar Democratic talking points, calling out McMorris Rodgers for accepting stimulus money, after voting against the package. "I don't think she has the public interest in mind on those votes," he said.

Cordero views his lack of experience in public service—he says he was involved in his local neighborhood association when he lived in Sacramento—as an asset, saying McMorris Rodgers has "lived in the political bubble her whole life" and that voters "don't want representatives from the traditional political class" (he drew an unexpected comparison between himself and Ronald Reagan, noting that the 40th president's first public office was the governorship of California.)

When I asked Cordero what his big priorities as an elected official would be, he said it was too early in his campaign to discuss what kind of policies he would propose or support. But he says he's happy with the Obama agenda and that he would have voted for the health care bill, which has been condemned by McMorris Rodgers as an illegal government mandate. Cordero, for his part, criticizes the bill from the left, saying he was ultimatley disappointed it didn't include the public option. "They could have been more risk-takers," he said. "But I don't believe in throwing out the good for the perfect."

In response to McMorris Rodgers' significant fundraising head start, Cordero says he's raised a little bit of money, and also expects fundraising help from the national Democratic Party.