Although the Trib doesn’t ordinarily make candidate recommendations in primary elections, it’s doing so today, owing to the strident tenor of the Congressional District 17 race and the fact so many remarkable Republicans signaled an interest in running for the post. At least seven Republicans expressed an interest in the job last year, five actually filed to run, and now two face a runoff election April 13.

In the GOP primary runoff election, the Trib recommends Republicans vote for longtime oil and gas executive Bill Flores, of Bryan, because of his refreshing philosophy of citizen legislators who serve for limited tenures in Congress, then return home to serve under the very laws they forge.

We also like the candidate’s unusually nuanced, thoughtful views on topics ranging from health care reform to a concerted, multilayered energy policy for our nation that, ironically, mirrors some of what President Barack Obama proposed last week.

After lively, engrossing 70-minute interviews with each of the two remaining GOP candidates, we find that Flores offers the greater credibility among Republicans in the fall general election.

While our recommendation does not mean we necessarily favor him over longtime Democratic incumbent Chet Edwards, it does reflect our belief that in the hard-fought and lively Republican primary election, Flores shows a particularly strong grasp of some fairly complex issues.

We’re particularly impressed with Flores’ repeated vows of running to protect what he perceives as a threat to the American Dream, especially as it vanishes for his children and grandchildren. We like his stated beliefs about staying put in Congress only long enough to work constructively with like-minded lawmakers from either political party — and then only long enough to personally forestall the arrogance he believes eventually overtakes and corrupts most representatives.

Flores’ belief that citizen legislators ought to carry certain expertise with them to Congress suggests his area of expertise is energy policy. He sides with Obama and most Republicans in his faith in more offshore drilling, favoring this as a transition to forms of energy that rely less on carbon emissions, particularly nuclear power. It’s an area he feels the nation has been extremely remiss in ignoring. He believes coal has a role but only in this bridge to cleaner forms of energy down the road.

Reservations? Well, we admit being disappointed by some of the careless rhetoric Flores has voiced on the campaign trail that strikes us as needlessly polarizing, encouraging the very partisan divide he tells us that he decries. It’s unfortunate because we find his answers in long interviews far more measured and insightful than his remarks on the stump would ever suggest. He acknowledges the difficulty of campaigning in the age of 10-second sound bites.

Rob Curnock, a Waco Republican who since 2000 has often sought this post, displays more energy on the stump and in debates, as he clearly did the other night at the Hispanic Republican Club of McLennan County forum.

However, Curnock’s insights concerning an array of issues don’t always withstand close examination. We wish he had some more credible experience in public service to draw upon beyond his career as a sportscaster, video production entrepreneur and perennial candidate. And if he doesn’t prevail in his current bid for Congress — one he views as a continuation of his spirited run in 2008 — then maybe we will have the pleasure of considering him for some other post in the future.