Cheney gets `front row seat' at Republican convention

A White Salmon woman has been selected -- for the second time in a row -- to serve as a delegate at the Republican National Convention.

Laura Cheney was picked as one of three delegates from Washington's Fourth Congressional District to head to Minnesota for the convention, which will be held in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Sept. 1-4.

Cheney will join a congregation of an estimated 45,000 Republican faithful who will be there to anoint U.S. Sen. John McCain as the party's nominee for president on the 2008 general election ballot.

"Our goal is to elect John McCain as president, and to elect state party candidates like Dino Rossi and Rob McKenna," the enthusiastic party stalwart said.

Cheney, who serves as chair of the Klickitat County Republican Party, explained that keeping the country safe, increasing the energy supply, and keeping taxes low are three of the party's key issues at this time. Getting Republicans back into office, she believes, is the way to achieve those goals.

One of the candidates she is most excited to vote for is the party's nominee for governor, Dino Rossi. Cheney says a Rossi win is key to achieving goals directly linked to Klickitat County.

"That's the basis for real change in Washington state," the chairwoman said. "[Rossi] would have a chance to appoint agency heads who could make a real difference when it comes to agriculture and timber. I think we'd see agencies that are more willing to see people be a success, rather than be somewhat of an obstruction."

Cheney is no stranger to politics. Her history stretches back to the early 1960s, when she helped her mother, Mary Stevenson -- then a Klickitat County Republican Party co-chair -- sell Barry Goldwater's nomination for president in 1964.

At the University of Colorado, Cheney continued with the College Republicans, and attended county and state conventions throughout the 1970s.

In the 1980s, she took a break for motherhood, but the horror of the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 helped re-engage her. Cheney witnessed the events first-hand from New York.

"I saw the terror and destruction, and it struck a passion in me," she explained. "I didn't want to see that happen in the country again. I continued supporting President Bush and his war on terror, and I'm still doing that."

Cheney was also selected to go to the Republican Party's national convention -- held at Madison Square Garden in New York City -- in 2004.

According to Cheney, the Klickitat County Republican Party is gaining strength and "moving forward." In the meantime, she said she is proud to be following in the footsteps of her mother who, at 88, is still an active voice in the party.

"She's excited and wants to hear reports," Cheney says. "She always wants an update."