GOP House candidates appreciate party differences and, ultimately, unity

SPOKANE - The morning session, which focused on establishing the party platform and selecting national delegates, is over and done. The convention goers have had their lunch and are currently heading back into the hall to finish their business. During the break, PolitickerWA.com caught up with two of the GOP's congressional candidates to see what they thought of the day's work.

Larry Ishmael (R-Kirkland), who is seeking to unseat Rep. Jay Inslee in the 1st District, and Steve Beren (R-Seattle) who is taking on Rep. Jim McDermott in the 7th, both appreciated the disagreements in the party, and felt good about the party unification that was coming out in spite of it.

"What is really interesting is that I started out this morning watching the debate in Washington DC with the Democratic Party, and they were emphasizing trying to agree to a specific thing, and both the Hillary and Obama camps agreed to this specific allocation of delegates, and they kept referring to ‘the spirit of party unity,' and so I come into this meeting today and that is exactly what people are talking about, the same exact thing," Ishmael said. "We are going through the same thing that the Democrats are going through, trying to arrive at some form of party unity. Obviously it's the McCain camp vs. the Ron Paul camp.

"People today are trying to influence the platform," he continued. "That's not a bad thing. This is the right point and the right forum to exhibit differing opinions as we develop our platforms."

He recognized that it is always a challenge to bring such a large group together, but nothing insurmountable.

"The Republican Party, we're really a coalition of different people," Ishmael surmised. "We've got the right to life people, we've got the fiscal conservatives, we've got the libertarians, we've got people that are isolationists, we've got free traders, the whole thing. None of the people that are single issues are going to be satisfied with a succinct platform, and that would take months to accomplish.

Ishmael also praised the administration of the proceedings by Paul Elvig and Convention Chair Kirby Wilbur.

Wilbur, he said, "is doing a superb job of keeping everything unbiased," and Elvig has "a great sense of humor and kept it on a light note and addressed all the issues. It came together well and I think that set the precedent."

Steve Beren was more focused on what he saw as the early churnings of long term success for the party, warts and all.

"They say if you like sausage that doesn't mean you want to watch sausage being made," Beren quipped.

Still, he saw the morning's proceedings as an important method of clarifying the differences in policy between the Republican and Democratic Parties.

"The Republican Party is for victory in the war on terrorism. It is for lower taxes," Beren declared. "It is for protecting the sanctity of human life, and sometimes to get it written down on paper, we squabble. But we're going to elect John McCain, we're going to elect Dino Rossi, we're going to elect Rob McKenna. I am very optimistic. There's moderates, there's conservatives, there's libertarian Republicans, I think we're going to be united. I think we are going to succeed this year.

"I'm pretty impressed, there's people that disagree and this weekend that is okay to argue and vote, but I'm confident, I know in my county, King County, and statewide the Republican party is the party for lower taxes, against illegal immigration, for victory in the war on terrorism, pro-life. Obama, Christine Gregoire and Jim MCDermott, there's a pretty sharp contrast between Dino Rossi, John McCain and me compared to Jim McDermott, Christine Gregoire and Dino Rossi. I'm very optimistic that American people will move more toward Republicans this year.

"These are nuances of difference," Beren ultimately concluded. "No liberal would like this platform."