Hawaiian punch
A moderate Democrat is trying to unseat one of the islands' iconic senators by calling him a far-left liberal. Sound familiar?
By Neal Milner and Alex Koppelman
Read more: Democratic Party, Hawaii, Politics, Joseph Lieberman, News, 2006 Elections, Alex Koppelman
Sept. 23, 2006 | On a recent warm Sunday afternoon, Rep. Ed Case, a Hawaii Democrat, and an audience of about three dozen had gathered in the living room of a private home in a Republican area of east Honolulu for what Hawaiians call a "talk story" -- an informal conversation. The two-term congressman was explaining to the mostly Filipino crowd why he had chosen to take on 82-year-old incumbent Sen. Daniel Akaka in the Democratic primary.
"I'm a moderate," Case, in a lei and aloha shirt, told the assembled. "That's where most people in Hawaii are today. That's where most people in the country are today." And though he stressed that he has "no problem being a Democrat," Case called his opponent a "far-left liberal" and said his natural friends in Congress are "15 or so moderates," including, he added without prompting, Joe Lieberman.
The people at the "talk story" did not seem to be political junkies. No one in the crowd talked about being a Democrat or a Republican. A young broker for Merrill Lynch said this was the first time he had gone to a political event. He lived a couple of miles away and had come to see what Case was like.
And the audience did seem receptive to Case's moderate stance, often nodding in agreement with his points. But during the question period, one woman turned to a man sitting next to her and, not quite understanding a senator's responsibilities, asked, "What part of the state will he represent?"
The race between Akaka and Case, which ends with Saturday's primary, has largely slipped under the radar of the national press. It will not affect the balance of power in the Senate, because the winner of a Democratic primary in Hawaii is almost guaranteed victory in the general election. The dynamics are specific to the state, as Case's attempt to capture the Filipino vote, a demographic with little power on the mainland, demonstrates. But the race is oddly similar to a much more prominent primary battle that took place on the mainland, 6,000 miles east of Honolulu and seven weeks ago, in another deep blue state, and involved the senator that Case referenced as a natural ally. Case vs. Akaka is a mirror image of Lamont vs. Lieberman, except that in the Connecticut race the challenger was a liberal, and the challenger and his supporters were harshly criticized for taking on an incumbent -- even accused of trying to "purge" the Democratic Party.
"The comparison between Connecticut and Hawaii is overblown, in my estimation," Case said in a recent interview, as he traversed Oahu in a campaign bus. But that doesn't stop him from claiming that he and the moderate Connecticutt senator are in the same boat. "I certainly am facing the same thing that Lieberman did ... There's definitely a faction within the party that wants to purge me right out of the Democratic Party, because I'm not ideologically pure from their perspective, just as was happening with moderate Democrats and, for that matter, moderate Republicans throughout the country."
Case has faced opposition from the day he announced his candidacy, but little of it has been inspired by his ideology. Hawaii has historically favored tradition in its political candidates: an incumbent running for reelection to Congress has never lost here, and even at 82, with 16 years as a senator and 30 total years in Washington under his belt, Akaka is the state's junior senator. Daniel Inouye has been in the Senate even longer. There is an entrenched belief that, by virtue of his age and experience, Akaka deserves to keep his seat.
"I think when you look at some of the support [Akaka] is receiving, people may scratch their heads and say, 'Why would this group, or why would this person, why would this entity be supporting Akaka?'" Akaka campaign manager Andy Weiner says.
"A lot of it, I think, has to do with the fact that he does have that sort of iconic status. In Hawaii, the term for it is 'kupuna,' which means a respected elder, and Akaka has really achieved what most people in the state would say is kupuna status. There are a lot of people who have affection and respect for him because of the fact that he is native Hawaiian and he has been in office for many years. His connection with the people here is very personal."
Don Clegg, an independent pollster, agrees, though he says he's not as sure it's a phenomenon unique to Hawaii.
"Many that I've talked to, they just feel sorry, they really don't want to do this, to get him out of his office in his waning years," Clegg says. "He's a sweetheart; he's a nice guy, friendly, and they don't want to hurt him by turning him out of office. I think a lot of sentiment is going to go that way."
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