GOVERNOR & LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Randy Iwase, above left, shook hands with Roy Oshiro at his headquarters at the Moanalua Golf Club last night.
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Iwase heads for showdown with Lingle
Education and economic diversity will be focuses of his campaign
Voters chose former state senator and Honolulu City Councilman Randy Iwase yesterday to lead the Democratic attempt to oust Republican Linda Lingle from the governor's office in November.
Iwase, 58, an attorney, was way ahead of Waianae harbormaster and political newcomer William Aila Jr. after the second printout.
"Tonight, we made the wave. Tomorrow, we catch the wave, and in November we are going to ride that wave to victory," Iwase said to supporters last night at the Moanalua Golf Club.
After making the round of Democratic unity meetings in each county today and tomorrow, Iwase said he and Malama Solomon, now his running mate for lieutenant governor, will "go out there and pick up the themes that we've had -- the twofold need to make meaningful, responsible commitment to a first-rate education system, and to grow and diversify our economy with innovation industries -- energy technology, biotechnology and biomedical."
Lingle said last night that she and Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona will focus their general election campaign "on achievements we've had in a wide variety of areas -- tax relief, economic vitality, a huge increase in spending on education ... and moving forward on affordable housing programs we've gotten such a good start on."
Lingle said voters have "a very clear choice" between the Democratic ticket of Iwase and Solomon and her administration.
"If people want to go backward 10 years, they would vote for Iwase," Lingle said. "If they want to move into the future, then they would vote for Duke and me."
Iwase admitted yesterday that a key challenge will be to raise enough money to counter Lingle's formidable war chest of almost $6 million.
After July campaign reporting, Iwase had raised $134,258.
"We'd like a debate on each of the islands, and we want the debate to be free-wheeling, not scripted," Iwase proposed.
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Supporters of Gov. Linda Lingle responded to the first printout last night at Lingle's headquarters.
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Lingle has been slow to take action to help the homeless in Hawaii, Iwase said. He claimed the governor only moved to establish temporary homeless shelters after the city announced clean-ups of beach parks where the homeless had been staying.
"Linda Lingle has done nothing to construct affordable rentals for people struggling," Iwase said.
Iwase said the need to improve Hawaii's education system "from preschool to tertiary" is a "symbiotic relationship" with the need to expand high-tech industries.
"We need a first-rate education system first to get our children to think critically, analyze critically and problem solve," Iwase said. "And we need a first-rate education to attract these industries to Hawaii."
Aila, 48, said he will encourage his voting base of "Hawaiians, environmentalists and progressive Democrats" to continue to vote Democrat.
Aila had apologized to the Democratic Party at its convention earlier this year for appearing in a campaign ad for Lingle in 2002. He said that although he had then been a "disillusioned Democrat," Lingle had failed to deliver on her promise of a new direction in Hawaii governance.
"This race is beyond the candidacy for us," Aila said. "It's about rebuilding the Democratic Party and building a movement."
Aila said he hoped to "return to values that built the party in the late 1950s." One way he hopes that will happen is "a consideration of the true cost of development and whether the cost benefit-analysis plays out when the interest of our children is played in."
Solomon, 55, a former state senator from the Big Island, overcame three other Democratic candidates in the race for lieutenant governor.
Star-Bulletin reporter Gene Park contributed to this report.