Catching up with the challengers: Former Democrat Steve Beren hopes to build the GOP brand in the 7th

A former war protester from New York City is running for U.S. House in the Seattle's urban 7th District. His name is Steve Beren, and he is a Republican. Really, he is, and he hopes to unseat incumbent Rep. Jim McDermott, the longtime Congressman who has helped to bear the standard of liberal policies all throughout his tenure.

"In my youth I was an anti war protester." Beren said in an interview with PolitickerWA last week. "In the 1990s I supported Clinton both times. I voted for Al Gore."

Then, he said, September 11 changed his perspective on things.

"It just shocked, shocked me," Beren said.

Almost overnight he became a strong supporter of the war on terrorism. They had come over here with their radical agenda and Beren did not want to sit idly by and let it happen again. He sought to debate anti-war groups, call in to talk radio, anything he could do to use his words and experience to persuade people to this cause.

Yet he was still not a Republican. That happened over time. He felt that the right became more open to his statements while the left did not want to hear him. Some called him a traitor even though he felt like a patriot. Eventually, he became a supporter of George W. Bush and Dino Rossi in 2004 and he never looked back.

Ever since September 11, 2001, Beren felt from his experience as an "anti-war radical" that the "phony agenda" of that side would try to ruin the good will people felt toward America by denouncing what Republicans did.

"Our country hasn't gone to hell," Beren said. "Our country, mostly, is the best country in the world ever."

So great that Beren believes, in general, America should be actively working harder to spread political freedom to other countries, and he "absolutely" thinks America should increase the size of its military in order to complete this task.

"Getting rid of Islamic terrorism across the world is right in line with the original Bush doctrine of pre-emption and spreading liberty," he said.

Speaking as a convert, Beren overflows with zeal in his denunciation of liberal viewpoints. Having once seen the other light he has no problem calling those on the left "liars".

"Democrats spend a lot of time saying, ‘this war is a fake war, you can't have a war against terrorism.' They try to lie. They want to minimize the existence of the threat, not to actually minimize the threat," Beren says of those who oppose the war on terrorism. "That's why the Democrats lie so much. Their whole rationale has to depend on making believe that the threat there is not real."

Fighting terrorism is merely one of five main topics that make up what Beren likes to call his brand of politics, "5-star conservatism." He got the idea from a hat he saw once that showed an elephant with five stars around it. The other stars represent strict no amnesty immigration policy, moral social policy on items like abortion and personal freedom, strong fiscal conservatism, and a commitment to national security.

Those are not the policies of choice in a place that Beren often calls "liberal Seattle", where he say he is often pressured to back off on his support of them, especially on social issues. Yet Beren is staunch in his new ideological styling.

"I believe that in the long run we win the debate on all those issues," Beren said. "Not even in Seattle, especially in Seattle...I want to incrementally win people over to free market solutions, limited government, moral values, patriotism right in the heart of liberal Seattle."

Furthermore, Beren wants to use his candidacy to highlight the recent news that McDermott's 2002 trip to Iraq was financed, unbeknownst to McDermott, by Saddam Hussein's government.

"In 2006 they said Mark Foley, Jack Abramoff, Tom Delay," Beren said of the scandal-ridden Republicans that became scapegoats for Democrats two years ago. "This time we should be saying Jim McDermott, William Jefferson, Eliot Spitzer. Jim McDermott is on the ballot in 435 districts."

Besides, Beren himself is skeptical of the story itself. Speaking of Shakir al-Khafaji, a man with ties to the Saddam Hussein who came along with McDermott to Iraq Beren said, "He contributed five thousand dollars to McDermott's legal defense fund against Boehner. The guy is on a fifteen hour flight with him to Iraq. I would know somebody if they gave me 5k for my legal defense fund. It is tough to give that guy the benefit of the doubt but I guess we will."

McDermott claimed that he did not remember al-Khafaji.

Yet Republicans have never received anything remotely near a victory in the 7th District during McDermott's tenure. Still, Beren knows that every bit helps when it comes to campaigning. Last time he raised $25,000 and this year he thinks it will be at least double that because of an early start and more name recognition. Plus even an extra thirty thousand can be a crucial aspect of his campaign, which he compares to William F. Buckley, Jr.'s quixotic New York City mayoral race in 1965.

"$50,000 or $75,000, that can buy a lot of radio ads," he said. "One of my goals is to move the dial. If I didn't run there would be no Republican candidate, but I can run a campaign that is exciting and seems like it has a million dollar budget even though I don't have a million dollar budget."

As part of that campaign, he proudly touts the endorsements of Rob McKenna and Dino Rossi, whom he calls "great men".

"I don't think I would be getting that much support from all those party leaders if they thought I was a flake or a nut," Beren insisted. "There are flakes and nuts who run in non-competitive districts. I'm not a flake."

Flake or no flake, the point is to get usually to get elected. When asked if he thought he could actually win, Beren gave a metaphorical answer.

"I'm on a team," he said referring to the Republican Party. "Not every player on the Seahawks makes a tackle or gets an interception or scores a touchdown. There are 435 House seats, and my team is going to win the White House, win the governorship in this state, and I'm going to play a role."

In other words, Beren has no intention of being the star of the Republican Party, but he hopes to make a timely enough block to help teammates like Dino Rossi and John McCain score a long touchdown. Even in "liberal" Seattle. Especially in "liberal" Seattle.