Larry Ishmael

Washington's "top two" primary was in the national limelight Monday when FOX News did a story on the recent fuss over exactly which party many state Republicans prefer when they call themselves GOP.

The story includes cameos by Washington's own Democratic Party Chari Dwight Pelz, Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi, Republican U.S. House candidates Steven Beren (R-Seattle) and Larry Ishmael (R-Kirkland) and Spokane Party Republican Party chair Curt Fackler (R-Spokane).

Check it out below:

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.

Republican Larry Ishmael, who ran unsuccessfully for the same 1st District seat he is now seeking against Rep. Jay Inslee in 2006, got his start in politics about five years ago with the help of a prominent local pol. In 2002 and his family moved back from Brazil, where they had been living for three years. Upon their return, his wife began teaching in the Issaquah School District, which became embroiled in a long teacher's strike.

"I got this call out of the blue from a guy named Dino Rossi, and I'd never met him before," Ishmael recalled. "Of course I'd heard of him, he was my State Senator, and basically he encouraged me to run for school board."

The Kitsap Sun has the news from the Kitsap County Republican Convention, which took place Saturday. Despite the absence of the scheduled keynote speaker, Republican Party Chair Luke Esser, the attending candidates were hopeful of their chances to gain seats in November.

A couple of GOP endorsements to report on today, first Larry Ishmael (R-Kirkland) received the backing of influential pastor The Rev. Dr. Joseph Fuiten for his 1st District challenge to Rep. Jay Inslee.  read more »

Beginning Monday morning, PolitickerWA will launch a series of profiles of the nine candidates who have announced their intention to challenge an incumbent member of Congress in 2008. Every weekday morning for the next nine days PolitickerWA will publish a profile of a challenger. The schedule, which starts in Eastern Washington and moves counterclockwise around the state, is below:  read more »