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Turnout crucial The last-minute message by the Jeremy Harris and Mufi Hannemann campaigns to their respective supporters is the same: The key to victory tomorrow is getting the vote out.
in mayoral election
Hannemann hopes to
Big Isle: Insiders, outsiders
force a November runoff
election against Harris
Seeking election perfection
Primary 2000 GuideBy Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-BulletinHarris said he believes a larger turnout will favor his bid to get more than 50 percent of the Oahu vote in the primary, avoiding a runoff election in November.
"The smaller number of people that vote, the more possibility that the sample size will be skewed and it won't represent the feeling of the general public," Harris said.
Harris supporters from his 1996 campaign still insist that it was a low turnout that resulted in their candidate getting 49.3 percent in the primary, coming just 1,415 votes shy of avoiding a primary against runner-up Arnold Morgado.
"Four years ago, if the turnout had been a little bit higher, the chances are we would have won in the primary election," said Harry Mattson, a spokesman for the 2000 Harris campaign.
Hannemann believes his fate tomorrow hinges on getting as many of his supporters into the polling booth as possible.
"To me, whether it's a big turnout or small turnout, they need to go out and vote," Hannemann said. "If they go out and vote, (Harris) is going to be denied the 50 percent, and we could surprise people."
He added that he believes there has been a swell of support since a series of three debates with Harris last week.
Both campaigns have reflected the get-out-and-vote drive in recent weeks and have been targeting key areas. Hannemann was busy sign-waving in Wahiawa and Mililani yesterday while Harris was doing the same in downtown Honolulu. Mattson said the Harris camp is also targeting strongholds such as East Honolulu and parts of Kailua.
Former Mayor Frank Fasi's campaign is also running television ads. The ads mostly target Hannemann for voting for Harris' budget and question Hannemann's accomplishments. Other ads tout Fasi's achievements when he was mayor.
Harris is running advertisements featuring four City Council members urging the electorate to vote tomorrow and to choose the incumbent for mayor. Other ads repeat the list of his accomplishments as mayor.
Hannemann, on the other hand, has been trying to collect last-minute votes in preceding days by holding news conferences criticizing Harris for not releasing a report on Ewa Villages and for his handling of a police radio system that has run into some problems.
HILO -- After months of viewing candidates in the Big Island's multi-party mayoral race, voters should have a pretty clear picture by now. Big Isle mayor
race: Insiders, outsidersDemocrat Bob Herkes disputes
Seeking election perfection
his insider label and says Fred
Holschuh is the one 'in the door'
Primary 2000 GuideBy Rod Thompson
Big Island correspondentBut some things aren't what they seem to be.
Among Democratic and Republican front runners, two look like insiders and two like outsiders.
Democrat Bob Herkes, 69, has years of government experience as a county councilman, state representative and state senator.
An insider? "Insiders don't take on GTE Hawaiian Tel and the insurance companies," Herkes responds. (Herkes supported an Alaska company taking over phone function in his district and pushed for hurricane insurance, which wasn't popular with insurance companies.)
The governor is also mad at him, perhaps because of his support of tax deductions for hotel renovations, Herkes says.
The apparent outsider on the Democratic side is physician Fred Holschuh, 59, who has never held public office.
But Herkes points out that the governor's Big Island liaison, Al "Butch" Castro, is one of Holschuh's prime supporters. "He's in the door," Herkes said.
Quintessential Democratic insider Hiroshi "Scrub" Tanaka supported Holschuh until they had a falling out and Tanaka ran a large ad in the Hilo newspaper accusing Holschuh of "micromanagement."
Tanaka has appeared in ads for Herkes, but Herkes says Tanaka isn't part of his campaign staff.
The apparent insider among the Republicans is Harvey Tajiri, 56, also a former County Council member and state representative.
"I was an insider, but some of the good old boys don't want to see me get in," Tajiri said.
Tajiri ruffled feathers by switching from the Democratic to the Republican Party last year. Several years earlier Herkes had made the switch in the opposite direction.
Tajiri faces former county Civil Defense director Harry Kim, 61, who has never held elective office.
Amid the imagery, there is occasional substance.
Tajiri touts his ability to get money for the county, and says tens of millions of dollars in grant money is waiting to be requested. Yet he is the only one of the four to oppose an upscale South Kona residential project at Keopuka, saying money shouldn't be called the "almighty" dollar.
Herkes says east Hawaii needs jobs and west Hawaii needs infrastructure and he has the skills to solve the problems.
Holschuh says Kona desperately needs transportation, and he's considering a fixed guideway system. On growth in general, "I don't want to be extreme in either direction," he said.
Kim is the man who has said the least about his plans for the county. Yet because of voter recognition after his 24 years as the Civil Defense voice on the radio, he is seen by some as a strong prospect for the next mayor.
Whether he or other candidates survive to the general election, they'll still have to contend with the Green Party's Keiko Bonk, a supreme outsider and strong challenger.
Primary 2000 Voter Guide