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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."

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 »