GOP: Fight for
2000 ‘starts today’

'The election provides a real
foundation for us to build on,'
says party chief

By Craig Gima
Star-Bulletin

The sign at state Republican headquarters that used to read, "Take the state in '98," has been changed.

A piece of paper with " '00" now covers the " '98" and below it, another piece of paper reads, "729 Days to Victory."

"The election provides a real foundation for us to build on in 2000, and that fight starts today," said state Republican Party Executive Director Jess Yescalis.

Yescalis spent the day analyzing why Republicans lost the governor's race despite a large lead in the polls and failed to increase their numbers in the Legislature.

Despite the losses, he feels the GOP has hope.

"It was actually a pretty good night for us," he said.

"Clearly, people in the past who had never, ever voted Republican are willing to do so," he explained. "Tens of thousands of people have crossed that threshold of voting for a Republican candidate."

At Lingle headquarters, volunteers who seemed reluctant for the campaign to end drank coffee, answered telephones and talked about what one woman called the time of her life.

The office was closed yesterday, but the volunteers showed up anyway.

Many of them said they were Democrats and would support Lingle if she decided to run again for governor in 2002 or for the U.S. Senate in 2000.

"Party doesn't matter to me; I'll support the person," said Mona Kapau, a volunteer campaign coordinator.

Margie Sodetani-Wong said she had never worked for any candidate, let alone a Republican, and had always voted Democratic.

"It was hard for me because I did not vote the last time. I was so brainwashed Democrat that I couldn't vote for the one you want," she said.

Volunteer Grale Lorenzo-Chong said other Republican candidates asked for her help, but she said no.

"She (Lingle) let all of the Republican people use her office, and they thought they could use us, too," Lorenzo-Chong said.

"I don't think any of us are party people," Kapau said.

Cayetano pollster Don Clegg credits Lingle with building a statewide organization and believes she would be a strong future candidate.

"She has a major election under her belt now," he said. "Losing is as educational as winning sometimes, or more educational."

But Clegg also said support for Lingle may not translate into support for Republicans in general.

Yescalis acknowledged that many volunteers who supported Lingle may not answer the call for another Republican candidate.

"Our job is to continue to recruit new people one person at a time," he said.

Yescalis said the Republican Party has to work from the bottom with precinct captains, district captains and a "farm team" of candidates to challenge Democrats.

"In the past it's always been about the top of the ticket."

The strong grass-roots effort by Democrats to turn out their vote was a key factor in Tuesday's election, said Yescalis, adding that money and labor union support also helped.

"In the last two weeks, when all of a sudden we were outspent 3-to-1, maybe even 5-to-1, our message was drowned out," he said.

Union members who supported Lingle early in the campaign moved into the undecided camp and did not vote because of union pressure, Yescalis said. He also saw shifts as older Japanese and Filipino Americans moved from Lingle back to Cayetano.

Voter turnout was about 68 percent. Yescalis said a higher turnout may have helped Lingle, especially since the margin of victory was only about 5,000 votes.

Clegg said he believes the turning point came with the second televised debate. Democrats who had supported Lingle saw her avoid answering specific questions, he said, and his after-debate polls showed Lingle's lead of eight or nine points disappear.

Ads after the debate that faulted Lingle for not answering questions and asked "Where's the beef?" where particularly effective, Clegg observed.

Another Cayetano strategy was to link Lingle with House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Republican policies in Washington.

His polls showed Gingrich and the conservative wing of the party are unpopular here in Hawaii.

"I think Linda was hurt by some of the company she had to keep," he said. "I was certainly going to thank Gene Ward and Sam Slom for all of their assistance. I think the Sam Slom ad (that criticized the Cayetano family's purchase of land in Waialae Iki) was a definite plus for us and lost her votes."

Still, the closeness of the race indicates support for Republicans is growing in Hawaii, Clegg said.

"It's up to the Democrats," he said. "If they want to maintain their position, they've got to change as well. They've got to move with the population and the spirit of the times," he said.

As for Republicans, Clegg expects them to continue to put up a good fight. However, he said, this election was another in a series of potentially winning situations where they came up short.

"It's like a Charlie Brown situation with Lucy," he said, referring to characters in the Peanuts comic strip. "They've been up there to kick the ball so many times and have been kicked away."

Meanwhile, the director of the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly, which had endorsed Lingle over Cayetano, said the faculty union is proud of its action despite her defeat.

Executive Director J.N. Musto said UHPA does not regret its endorsement because it is a reflection of the will of the vast majority of faculty in the UH system. The faculty took a position that could have led to "depoliticizing" the university and was aware of the possible consequences of this decision.

"Contrary to the suggestions of some, I will not commit ritual seppuku in response to the results of the gubernatorial election," Musto said. "UHPA lost no face nor honor in its decision to endorse Linda Lingle which would justify our own self-destruction."