Partisanship should have no bearing on the law, and in a perfect world the office of attorney general would be nonpartisan. The world’s not perfect, though, and on Sept. 14, state voters select the Democratic and Republican nominees who will advance to the general election in November.

For those who use the Democratic ballot in the state’s new primary system, the choice is easy. The candidates for the Republican nomination are paired much more closely.

Democrats: Deborah Senn vs. Mark Sidran

There’s such a thing as being overzealous in the name of consumer protection.

Such was the case in the late 1990s when Deborah Senn was state insurance commissioner. It’s important to be a firm regulator, but Senn had such an adversarial relationship with the insurance industry that some companies actually stopped writing policies, thus limiting the choices available to consumers.

Now she is touting that aspect of her resume as an example of how she would act as attorney general. Frankly, the previous experience left us with the impression that she was more interested in developing a reputation than in genuinely improving the insurance climate on behalf of the public.

Seattle city attorney Mark Sidran offers Democrats an attractive alternative.

Harvard-educated with a University of Washington law degree, he has run a big law office.

Senn is bright, too, and has also run a large agency, but in contrast to her, Sidran takes a pragmatic, rather than combative, approach to problem-solving.

On the thorny issue of medical malpractice insurance and tort reform, for example, he has offered a number of suggestions that would encourage early resolution of patient complaints and reduce the likelihood of prolonged, costly litigation and punitively high verdicts.

Democrats who want to send a thoughtful, common-sense nominee to the general election ballot would do well to vote for Sidran.

Republicans: Mike Vaska vs. Rob McKenna

King County Councilman Rob McKenna has nailed down tons of endorsements, including those from an impressive list of business organizations.

That would be a compelling consideration in a legislative or gubernatorial race. But the attorney general’s office is the state’s top consumer protection agency, obligating the office holder to go to bat against businesses who take advantage of consumers.

We don’t think for a minute that campaign donations and endorsements would influence McKenna not to do his duty diligently.

However, the appearance of being beholden could undermine public confidence in an office whose reputation for consumer advocacy is so strong that sometimes just a letter acknowledging awareness of a complaint can bring about a resolution. Anything that weakens the office’s credibility would be a loss.

First elected to the King County Council in 1995, McKenna has not practiced law for eight years, although he says his law training makes him effective in his county role in a variety of ways.

By contrast, Mike Vaska, partner in the law firm of Foster Pepper & Shefelman, stresses that he’s a full-time professional lawyer with experience running large teams and directing certain areas of his firm’s practice.

Although McKenna has also talked about the mounting cost of lawsuits against the state, Vaska has made it the centerpiece of his campaign.

He insists the attorney general’s office can help state agencies develop ways to avoid getting into legal jeopardy in the first place, a move that would save the state substantial sums.

McKenna showed he is more conversant with a broader range of issues.

Like Democrat Sidran, for example, he has promising ideas for the medical-malpractice dilemma.

But on the state liability issue, Vaska demonstrated a depth of work and analysis that we’d hope to see from an attorney general on all major challenges.

On balance, these candidates are closely matched. The edge goes to Vaska because he conveys a stronger image of independence.

As former Gov. Dan Evans put it, Vaska gives him hope that “the notion of doing public good survives.”

To us, that tilts the scales in Vaska’s direction.