|
On Politics
Richard Borreca
|
All she really needs is to get out more
ON a four-year cycle, Hawaii's governor either gets a new lease or we shower the new governor with our praise and hopes.
Tomorrow we will watch Gov. Linda Lingle extend her lease on Washington Place for another four years.
For someone who racked up the biggest percentage win by anyone who ever ran for governor of Hawaii, Lingle doesn't need much advice, so here's my only suggestion to her: Get out more.
The confines of Washington Place will hem you in, and you will lose the skills that brought you the victory.
Politicians seem to divide up as either retail or wholesale specialists. Gov. George Ariyoshi inherited a superb political machine that had been well tended by Democrats and union leaders. For his first election, Ariyoshi was able to rely on that strong machine to win, but by the time he had left office, he was transformed into a retail politician, who seemed to enjoy winning votes and convincing voters one at a time.
Gov. John Waihee was always a retail politician, who appreciated ringing up each and every vote. In contrast, I don't think Gov. Ben Cayetano ever really enjoyed going out and giving the same speech every evening to small groups. His strategy seemed to be to give the "big picture" and let others gather the votes.
Lingle, who is blessed with something approaching total recall for names and faces, does one-on-one campaigning adroitly, but her aides have shaped her into a political rock star.
The insistent spotlight lends itself to critics charging that she is all publicity and no accomplishment. As her Texas friends would say, "All hat and no ranch."
During the campaign, while Lingle was making appearances across the state, her political staff was assembling its own campaign machine to coordinate that retail effort. The plan was so detailed, according to campaign manager Bob Awana, that the workers had mapped out not only where the trucks would be to provide house-to-house campaigners with bentos, towels and water, but to point the trucks in the right direction so workers could easily open the rear doors at the end of their walk.
All this is to say that Lingle pulled off a campaign that succeeded on a retail level because the wholesale organization executed.
Now Lingle has the chance to take that effort to a new level, and she can't do it by remaining simply the governor at Washington Place who holds up the GOP banner, watches programs and appointments suffer legislative rejection and toys with the national Republican establishment.
Richard Borreca writes on politics every Sunday in the Star-Bulletin. He can be reached at 525-8630 or by e-mail at
rborreca@starbulletin.com.