Primary Past

After low, but not nearly the lowest, voter turnout yesterday (40 percent, I believe, of registered voters casting ballots), Linda Lingle and James Aiona will challenge Mazie Hirono and Mark Matsunaga for the right to occupy the top floor of the State Capitol.

Ed Case gave the "status quo" a run for the money on the Democratic side, refusing to concede early on with only 1 percent separating him from on-again, off-again candidate Hirono (who, in the end, netted less than half the Democratic ballots pulled in the Primary — hardly a ringing endorsement). Meanwhile, a remarkable number of Legislative incumbents found themselves on the road to early retirement.

In other news, Steve Tataii's aggressive take on his opponents incapacitation seems to have backfired, and he has the honor of being defeated by an incumbent candidate that barely campaigned.

So what's next?

I was really pulling for Ed Case, but probably for the first time in my family's history I voted on the G.O.P. side of the ballot. (I got my mom to back Case, though!) Mazie Hirono seems to now epitomize what's wrong with state government (as Lisa here noted, essentially admitting she spent the last eight years as Lt. Governor waiting to move across the hall), and the fact that more Democrats (56 percent) voted for someone else says a lot. I mean, I'm positive that had Andy Anderson not been a factor, those 33,000+ Dems would've backed Case.

The tossing of Legislative incumbents also surprised me (though perhaps not in the case of party-switcher Lei Ahu Isa, though her heart was in the right place). Some of it was unavoidable, of course, as redistricting pitted some incumbents against each other. But I'll confess the ouster of longtime Advertiser-endorsed senator Bob Nakata, for example, makes life harder for Republican opponents. Now both names on the ballot in the general can tap the "change" angle.

Comments

By the by, the Advertiser article linked above also touches on the race issue.

Do you think race (both Japanese Americans) will be a liability for the Hirono-Matsunaga ticket, or the (Haole and Local) Lingle-Aiona ticket? Do you think race more or less relevant than commentators say?

As a whole, I can live with the results of last nights election. To be honest, I'm not filled with a tremendous joy or feelings of excitement about any of the canidates, and I guess the low turnout shows that many others feel the same way. I think I find more joy in knowing that Ben Cayetano, Clayton Hee, Donna Ikeda, Andy Anderson, John DeSoto, and Mufi Hanneman will not be in the political arena for a while. I get a certain satisfaction in knowing that they will actually have to work for a living, although I am sure some of them are already trying to get their name considered for political appointments at todays unity breakfast.

As far as race is concerned in Hawaii politics, I'm sure that it does influence some voters, although I would like to believe that the vast majority of the voting public has gotten past such things. For me personally, I don't care what ethnic background our political leaders come from, I distrust them all equally.

Dan Boylan made a fuss about the racial ticket balancing issue on Channel 8. I'm not sure it matters as much as it used to when Fasi was on the scene.

There was some kind of backlash against the Colleen Hanabusa allies, if you believe Boylan; and some of the Senators who voted to oust Bronster got booted too. I was too tired to analyze it last night, and I haven't read the papers yet. :(

I have to agree with kane. Personally, it never occured to me that race would be an issue at all.

Overall, I'm not surprised at the results, although it definitely says something that Case was so close. He seemed to have his heart in it, while Hirono just seemed.. smug.

I'm not entirely convinced the 33,000+ Anderson voters were Dems, though. I think many of them were independents, and some Republicans. I bet at least 1/3 of them will ultimately vote for Lingle, while the majority of the Case votes will go to Hirono.

As for Mink- I've looked at her recent record, and I mostly agree with her. I really hope she recovers soon. McDermott is really off-putting, and I would hate for him to be my rep :P

I think voters have a very clear choice as to whether or not they want real change or maintain the status quo of the last 40+ years.

Voting for Linda Lingle on November 5 will signal a desire for change. The fact that so many Democrats voted for Ed Case in the primary is an indication that people are fed up with the way current state government is. I hope that Ed Case's large independent block of voters will have the courage to cross the party line and vote for meaningful change on November 5.

I'm holding my tongue on the governor's race - as far as this public forum goes - only because of, ahem, certain family and corporate interests that have been invested on both sides.

I will say, though, that I'm not too crazy about both Brian Kanno and Jon Yoshimura winning their respective electoral races. Kanno, because he's the only incumbent to have escaped the sting of the whole Hanabusa "curse" (okay, so he did say he was sorry about Margery Bronster - but still, you know?); and Yoshimura, because his carpetbagging (ie. switching on which office to run for in this election) was, I think, a tad more obvious and annoying than Mazie's.

Ed, Ed, Ed... I've got a feeling that it's not his year, especially when you consider what's going on with the other members of the family. (Am I the only person in the world who sees this connection with Ed being Steve's cousin and vice versa?)

It seems like voters have also forgotten that Jon Yoshimura is also a liar, as he tried to cover up that accident he was in, which resulted in his suspension from practicing law earlier this year.

Can you tell us what this "Hanabusa Curse" is? I think Senator Hanabusa is one of the more brilliant people down there, and I am not a Democrat.

One of my dyed-in-the-wool Democratic friends likes to argue that while voting Republican in Hawaii may make you feel like you're on the side of change, you're actually hurting the national Democratic party by doing so. Is this really true, though? I mean, if I vote for Linda Lingle because I'm disgusted with the Hawaii Democratic Party, will that translate into a gain for George Bush in Washington? I am not sure exactly how this connection might work. Can anyone enlighten me?

Can't remember ever having been in a situation before where the top political spot was being contested by two women.

Should never have given them the vote.

[g,d,&r]

"Can you tell us what this "Hanabusa Curse" is?"

From KITV's story:

"Sen. David Matsuura of the Big Island, Kauai Sen. Jonathan Chun, Maui's Sen. Jan Yagi Buen and Oahu's Sen. Bob Nakata all opposed Bronster and lost in the primary race.

The four are political allies of Senate Vice President Colleen Hanabusa, who led the anti-Bronster move. They would be key to her ambition to assume the Senate presidency in the 2003 session."

Albert- LOL, you're right. Women shouldn't be able to vote and men shouldn't be able to run for office.

Glen- personally, I'm none too happy with the Hawaii Democrats as a whole. Where I come from, many of them would be classified as Republicans anyway.

On the national level, though, the governorship isn't nearly as big a deal as the senators and house members, who can directly back or question Bush's agenda.

Of course, the media will certainly spin a Lingle win as a Bush win- I wouldn't be surprised if a Lingle win ended up as front page news on the Mainland with some dramatic headline as "Hawaii elects first Republican Governor since Statehood" followed by "Republicans gaining ground around the country, as support for Bush increases".

As it is, we're already international news.

Personally, I view Republican "Change" as a Very Bad Thing. To me it means increases in taxes for the lower-income segments of the population, huge deficits, cuts in social programs, recession, and war. Not an an agenda I'm going to support.

I grew up under a Republican governor who was responsible for California's energy crisis, the accelerated failure of the state's educational system, healthcare woes (from increased costs to decreased services), and failures to address general infrastructure problems. Once was enough, thanks- I don't care much for Democrats, but I really can't stand the Republicans.

Lisa, sometimes I think California is too big to govern well. I'm occasionally of a mind to agree with the Northern Ca. secession movement. :)

Each of us should allow ourselves the time to see the canidates without their party association. It's far too easy to put these labels on politicians and then assume that they believe in the specific ideals of that party.

There was a time when such labels as Democrat and Republican held significant meaning. You could say that this politician was a Democrat, or refer to another as a Republican, and most would have an understanding of what that politician stood for. But those days are gone.

In many ways, the line between the two parties has faded. Ideally, one would think that this faded line would eventually cause voters to (1) look closer at the current issues and (2) have a greater interest in knowing how a specific canidate plans to solve the problems at hand.

However, instead of delving into the issues and asking how a canidate will actually solve the problems, we rely heavily on a lazy media that oftentimes seems confused by the faded line between the parties and thus turns its focus on personalities, race, gender, and dirt rather than issues and substance.

The politicians often seem content with the public attention away from the real issues, and more than satisfied by the weight many of us put on party association. For years, local Democrats have raised the name of John Burns at every gubernatorial election, knowing full well that many longtime residents have a sentimental tie with this former governor. They have used his name as an emotional crutch instead of speaking of specifics, similar to the way Republicans have used the name of Ronald Reagan on the national level.

Until we are able to look beyond the emotional ties we have with a specific political party, we will continue to be fed empty rhetoric and party propaganda. I look forward to a time when we will elect our politicians on the quality of their character and content of their message.

On the national level, though, the governorship isn't nearly as big a deal as the senators and house members, who can directly back or question Bush's agenda...

And consider, too, that as far as the Beltway's concerned, Linda Lingle doesn't seem to have the influential sort of power that has made ex-governors such as Ann Richards (Texas) or Christine Todd Whitman (New Jersey) quite popular nationally - not to say that she can't or does not have the power to be a "big deal" in influencing, let alone reinforcing, the GOP agenda. Consider, as well, that Lingle's opponent, John Carroll, has made a very big deal about Lingle being pro-choice, which goes against the traditional GOP agenda.

Oh well, time to just sit back and watch the whole thing get dirty from here...

If by "Hanabusa curse", you also mean to make a connection with the Bronster reappointement vote, then Kanno is not the only incumbent to escape from the "curse". Of the 14 votes against Bronster's reappointment in 1999, 8 are no longer in elected office (give or take 1). I would tend to agree with media reports that the ouster of the 4 senators this election cycle had as much to do with their anti-union stand on a number of key legislative issues as on their anti-Bronster vote. Union pull is not what it used to be, but on the NI it is the strongest.

My understanding on the role a States Governor can play on the national scene which may have been of concern to the D fan mentioned above is 1) their participation in the National Governor's Assosciation (with currently an R advantage) which can raise States issues at the national level and maybe more importantly, 2) the Governor would appoint to US Senate vacancies. A potential issue as our Senators get older. Yeah, I know, state law dictates that the Gov must replace the incumbant with someone of the same party, but it does not have to be a D that the D party likes...

And not to be picky Ryan, but it should be Matt and not Mark. Your intent was clear, but maybe you wish it was someone else? Haha.

Gadzooks, Ken, you're right - because this is Mark Matsunaga, and from the looks of it he's not running for office any time soon.

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