THERE are no maps to lead you to election victories. No one draws a path taking you from lei-draped announcement to champagne-popping win in one simple journey. There are, however, a lot of tricks and traps hidden in the landscape that will lure you off the path. What the Republicans
must do to winOf course, there are consultants and experts all around to push, tug and direct candidates toward their goals, but the incipient pol can easily get lost anyway.
A case in point was on display last weekend on the Big Island as the state's Republicans met in convention.
As always, the GOP left the air-conditioned hotel bubbling over with enthusiasm and excitement. Democrats, by contrast, usually depart from their conventions grumbling that they didn't get everything they wanted, but at least they still run the state and what they don't get in convention, they may accomplish at the Legislature.
The Republicans, as Hawaii's minority party, have nothing except their enthusiasm.
Looking at the serious problems in the state, the GOP sees political opportunities. There are daily reminders that the state's economy is in shambles. The ripples of resentment in the community are theirs to be capitalized on.
Across the state, the numbers of unhappy campers grow. The demands for leadership increase.
The Republicans, however, have faced these circumstances before and almost always managed to fall into one of the traps.
The first mistake the GOP makes is telling voters that the Democrats are so lousy and have bungled things so badly that the Republican candidate must be better. The Republicans forget that the Democrats have been elected; more people voted for them than for the Republicans.
It may seem like an obvious mistake, but the Republicans constantly base their campaigns on calling Democrats names. If you say the Democrat is stupid, lazy and a crook, what does that make the people who voted for him or her two years ago?
Republicans also seem intent on believing that political nirvana is just one governor's race away.
Portions of the GOP hold as dogma that if they just find the right candidate to win the governor's office, then the good times will be back.
Not true. It has never been true in Hawaiian politics. We may take our clues from a handful of leaders, but they draw all their strength from the depth of their own political roots. In other words, you are nothing without a bunch of buddies in the Legislature and county councils.
DEMOCRATS won the governorship in 1962, after winning the Legislature first. Republicans can hardly expect victory to be any different, but they never stop thinking they need just one statewide win.
Finally, the Republicans can't organize the people who want to vote for them. Democrats get union support, that's a given. But Democrats also get union friends and officials to run for office.
If Republicans see political life through the eyes of small business, they'd better convince small businessmen and women to run and win. And small business people must understand that, just like labor, they have issues and candidates to support.
Or the Republicans can spend their elections wondering why they play the entire game in the sand traps on the first hole.