Blog Him To Congress

LA's City Beat breaks the story today about Orange County's own blogger/candidate for Congress, Ron Shepston.

The Vietnam vet and avionics engineer was urged to run for Congress by a group of like-minded Southern California bloggers when they noticed no one was running against Republican incumbent Gary Miller in the 42nd Congressional District. Miller ran unapposed last year despite corruption allegations (he's currently under investigation by the FBI) for tax evasion. Shepston accepted the informal nomination after he received a blessing from the Democratic Party of Orange County.

The 42nd District includes Anaheim and several other Orange County cities as well as a few from Los Angeles and the Inland Empire (see map). Shepston announced his "netroots" candidacy on the Daily Kos blog in mid-July. According to the City Beat story, this is the first time the blogosphere has actually launched its own candidate for federal office.