Mike McGavick's worth a look

WASHINGTON state has not chosen a Republican senator for more than 10 years, but next year it might. We are not sure whether Mike McGavick will get our support, only that he holds out the potential.

As CEO of Safeco Insurance, he has been decisive and successful. He has the best political education of any businessman-candidate we can recall: He was Sen. Slade Gorton's chief of staff. Already, he begins to stake out positions independent of the White House and national Republican Party line, which in this state is essential. McGavick says he will build his campaign on three ideas: free enterprise, strength abroad and protecting the family. These are three boxes now mostly empty. Each will have to be filled with ideas.

"Free enterprise," meaning a defense of private-sector values, is going to require a reining-in of public spending. On this matter, McGavick must be more Republican than the Republicans, who have butchered their doctrine of frugality and served it up as pork. McGavick did not spare the knife at Safeco, and looks like he would join Sen. John McCain as a deficit fighter.

He would also have to champion free trade internationally and a reasonable accommodation for foreign workers — putting him at odds with some other Republicans. McGavick is strong on this.

"Strength abroad" is a term of patriotic vagueness. Really, the question is how America decides when to fight, and whether the Bush doctrine of preemption can be a part of it.

McGavick says, "We need a robust debate on this new standard of going to war." We go further: America needs to raise the bar on going to war.

"Protecting the family" is a heading that, for Democrats, tends to mean government programs to help the family, and for Republicans tends to mean not creating too many alternatives to the family.

Religious belief is also involved. In this state, a Republican has to be devout to be nominated but tolerant to be elected.

Like Dino Rossi, McGavick is Roman Catholic and opposes abortion; McGavick says he favors some restrictions, such as parental notification and a ban on late-term abortions, but not a federal ban because "it would not work." Practically, it would not; and politically, it would not.

The environment is another issue on which a Republican senator from Washington would have to be different from a Republican senator from Texas — or Alaska. McGavick says he would be, but we're not sure it's enough. He supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We don't.

We don't have to make up our minds yet — nor do the voters of Washington. But already, Mike McGavick is a candidate worth watching.