The query, Ching says, is an attempt to determine if a candidate is aligned with the status quo at the state Legislature, a status quo that has left the public dissatisfied.

"There's a frustration with leadership. There's a sense that people have been in power too long and have lost touch with the people," says Ching, who is making her first run for elective office.

Other candidates, incumbents and lobbyists agree.

They identify the dominant factor in the 49 contested races - 10 in the Senate and 39 in the House - as voter restlessness.

Powerful leaders of the Democrat-dominated Legislature have already been burned or severely scarred.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Rey Graulty and Senate Consumer Protection Chairman Milton Holt lost their primaries. Senate President Norman Mizuguchi was nearly defeated by a Democratic political neophyte. And House Judiciary Chairman Terrance Tom squeezed out a primary win by 54 votes.

In eight days, when the general election is held, that voter restlessness also could claim Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Donna Ikeda, a veteran of 22 years in the Legislature. She's in a tough race with Sam Slom, a Republican small-business advocate.

Coupled with a concern for hot-button issues such as whether same-sex marriage should be legalized, the public's mood becomes even more volatile, say some lawmakers and legislative watchers.

"There has been voter dissatisfaction with an unresponsive Legislature before," says Les Ihara Jr., a first-term Democratic state senator who's not up for re-election this year. "But this is the first election (cycle) in the last four that I've seen where the public has had an impact."

Mizuguchi stressed the benefits of the Senate presidency to his constituents, but he failed to carry his base - Aiea, with its predominantly Japanese-American population. But he managed to win by carrying Kalihi and its strong Filipino vote.

The results suggest that traditional Democratic voters feel they have been taken for granted for too long and want a reason to vote for entrenched Democratic leaders.

Holt lost in large part because his Democratic blue-collar base in Kapalama, Kalihi and Palama abandoned him.

He also lost because he rarely attended neighborhood board and other community meetings, say Ching, the House candidate who lives in the Senate district Holt represented for 16 years, and many others.

That should be a wake-up call for incumbents and wannabe legislators, Ching adds.

Community activists first found Holt's absences to be funny, Ching says.

"Then they found it annoying. Then insulting. Some thought he would never be defeated. But I saw it coming," she adds.

The public's restlessness won't likely bring wholesale changes in the Legislature.

Republicans, however, are poised to make modest gains, according to a Star-Bulletin analysis of the races and interviews.

The 25-member Senate, which presently has only two Republicans, could end up having three.

A Senate with only one Republican or even none, which many thought was possible as recently as five months ago, now looks unlikely.

The seven-member GOP House delegation has a good chance of growing to 11, the magic number needed to force Democrats to have roll call votes, putting each majority member's position on the record.

In what would amount to something of a miracle, there could be 14 Republicans in the 51-member House if all seven incumbents are re-elected and if the GOP takes three of four open seats and four tight races.

No matter how the general election ends, the Legislature is gradually moving to become more responsive, says Slom, the Republican challenging Ikeda.

There are some young, reform-minded Democratic incumbents with whom Republicans could work, Slom says.

"Solutions should be the only thing legislators should be working for," he adds. "The power structure is going to change whether I'm elected or not."

Over lunch one day during this year's legislative session, a group of senators took a straw poll to determine who was the most powerful member. The winner was Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Donna Ikeda, who wasn't present.

But since the end of session six months ago, Ikeda has been under siege. First, it came from her own party. Then-Democratic Party Chairman Richard Port blamed her and her Senate colleague, Milton Holt, for the failures of this year's so-called "do-nothing" session.

Now, Republican small-business advocate Sam Slom is assailing Ikeda's effectiveness and personality in a bid to unseat her. He's betting that he'll be able to ride a surge of voter restlessness to victory. That public mood is credited in large part for toppling Holt and nearly claiming Senate President Norman Mizuguchi in the Democratic primary. Holt finished No. 2 in his colleagues' informal straw poll; Mizuguchi, No. 3.

The Ikeda-Slom contest, says social-services lobbyist Frank Chong, is too close to call.

Ikeda says she has gotten results and that she isn't afraid to make hard decisions after 10 years in the Senate and 12 in the House. It is unfair, she adds, to blame her for all of the Legislature's shortcomings.

"I don't rule the roost. The idea is to persuade a majority to get things passed."

Slom, however, counters that Ikeda and her fellow Democrats, who control 23 seats in the 25-member Senate, still failed to deliver tax relief, lower auto insurance rates and reform of lawmakers' lucrative pension perk.

Moreover, Slom adds, Ikeda has become more arrogant and argumentative rather than cooperative as her power has grown, alienating even some of her Democratic colleagues.

"I guarantee if she is re-elected, she will not be chair of Ways and Means," Slom asserts. "She is too much of a liability to her own party, too many in and out of her party have been angered by her."

People not tied to Ikeda's campaign say it is ironic that Slom would criticize Ikeda's style since he is known for having tongue equally acidic as Ikeda's.

Ikeda says: "He's (Slom's) pretty well known here (at the state Capitol). He's alienated a lot of people. That's the reason he is not successful as a lobbyist for small business."

If he were elected as a Republican lawmaker, Slom would not be able able to effectively swing nearly $2.3 million in school, traffic, park and Maunalua Bay improvements in District 8 (Hawaii Kai, Kalama Valley, Aina Haina) as she has, Ikeda insists. And that doesn't include $20.4 million earmarked for the planning and acquisition of a Ka Iwi state park, she adds.

Chong, the social-services lobbyist, said Slom "would lose his effectiveness in the Legislature as a member of a small (Republican) minority. It's not like he can be a broker between two dissident Democratic factions. And he'll have no chairmanships."

Chong says while he doesn't agree with Slom on everything, Slom makes valid criticisms for holding the Legislature accountable for the use of special funds and for the need to reduce red tape and government waste.

The east Honolulu district includes Hawaii Kai, Portlock, Kalama Valley, Niu Valley and Aina Haina. Residents are primarily middle and upper-middle income. They generally vote conservative and will back Republicans when the GOP seriously contests a race.

Population: 41,961.

Ethnicity: Caucasian, 38 percent; Japanese, 32 percent; Chinese, 14 percent; Hawaiian, 6 percent; Korean, 3 percent; Filipino. 3 percent.

Sex: Female, 50.2 percent; male, 49.8 percent.