Lingle plots targets WAILEA, Maui >> Linda Lingle, newly re-elected chairwoman of the state Republican Party, wants two things made perfectly clear.
for Republicans --
win governorship,
House majority
The GOP leader says in her
Kauai woman to run for U.S. House By Richard Borreca
next run for governor, she'll
help pick her running mate
Star-BulletinThere will be lots of elections next year, but for the Republicans it is only about two races: governor and the state House.
As she emphasized over and over during the three-day convention here on Maui, the GOP must keep its eyes focused on her winning the governorship and increasing the numbers in the House to win a majority.
Picking up the spirit yesterday, Rep. Chris Halford (R, Kihei) introduced the minority leader, Rep. Galen Fox, as "the next speaker of the House in 18 months."
Lingle described the convention as a chance for the GOP to "feel good about victories" from 2000, but she stressed the upcoming races.
"I don't want there to be any question that our goal is the governorship and the state House. So when they see us using resources that they helped us get, I want them to understand that this will be where we use our energy and money," Lingle said.
Lingle said she will stay as party chair until next year, when she will step down to run her campaign for governor. She is not expecting any opposition in the primary election next year, and no candidate surfaced during the convention.
Right now, her campaign and the party's plans "are running on a parallel course," she said. She is helping recruit candidates and coordinate the campaigns.
On a somewhat quieter level, Lingle said she also hopes to help decide who will be her lieutenant governor running mate.
Already mentioned as possible candidates for lieutenant governor are state Reps. David Pendleton and Charles Djou and state Sen. Bob Hogue.
According to the state Constitution, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run separate campaigns during the primary, but each party's winners join together in the general and run as a ticket.
In 1998, Lingle won her primary, and former state Sen. Stan Koki won the Republican primary for lieutenant governor, without Lingle having a choice in the matter. Next year, Lingle says that will change.
"I want to have an influence on who that is, and I expect I will this time, unlike last time.
"I think it will reveal itself over time. You have to have certain abilities (for the job)," she said.
Her ideal candidate will be someone who can raise enough money for their own campaign, have a good knowledge of the state and also passionately care about Hawaii, she said.
"I want someone who is a team player. You are the second person on the ticket, but often you must take the heat and say the tough things, so you need someone who can take it," she said.
Reminded that politicians still talk about former Gov. John Burns, who endorsed former state Sen. Kenneth Brown as lieutenant governor but instead had to run with former U.S. Congressman Tom Gill, whom he did not care for, Lingle said she will not make the same mistake.
"We know the history well, and that is why there is not going to be an anointing. That is why I say it will reveal itself," Lingle said.
"Anybody who would stand out and wreck the overall effort for personal ambition right now I don't think would be well received by our party.
"Everyone's expectations are so high, everyone is going to sacrifice now," she said.
On June 4, Lingle turns 48 and will spend most of the month raising money around the state at a series of fund-raisers.
She expects her campaign to cost "at least $4 million."
"We raised $3.4 million last time, and we were restricted to spending $2.7 or $2.8 million," she said.
Lingle says since her narrow 1998 defeat, she has analyzed her campaign and made several changes.
"They got pretty nasty and I wasn't prepared for it," Lingle said. "All my experience has been on a local level. I know it is tough to debate, but I like it -- I like to mix it up, but I wasn't ready for the kind of personal attacks.
"Also in the 1998 race, I thought I was running against just Ben Cayetano. That was a real critical mistake."
"I thought he was my opponent in the general election, not realizing it was an entire power structure that collectively would at all costs hold on to its power," she said.
For example, she referred to a campaign spot that featured U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye drawing a comparison between Lingle, who is divorced, and Cayetano, who is married and a father.
"Imagine a United States senator like Dan Inouye going on television and saying, 'I don't want her because she doesn't have a family.'
"That was the crowning blow. I think the attack was that a single woman couldn't have this position (governorship), so I better run out and find a husband and produce some kids. And that would make me more qualified.
"All of us respected him regardless of party, but after that election, we realized he is just like everyone else. It is just about power," Lingle said.
Carol J. Douglass says she will run again as a Republican for U.S. House District 2 in 2002. Kauai woman running
Star-Bulletin Staff
for U.S. House seatDouglass, 38, was defeated in the Republican primary last year by Russ Francis, who in turn was defeated by longtime incumbent Democrat Patsy Mink.
Since then, "I have been working very hard behind the scenes being a candidate for 2002," Douglass said in an e-mail sent to the Star-Bulletin after reading that state Rep. Bob McDermott, R-Foster Village, has announced his intention to run for Congress.
Reached yesterday at her home in Kapaa, Kauai, Douglass said she did not attend the Republican state convention on Maui over the last few days because she was laid off in December from her part-time job teaching art at St. Francis of Kauai school, and "donations for the campaign just started coming in."
Douglass's campaign points have been the same since she first ran for Congress in 1998: to lower taxes, deregulate small business, reduce federal involvement in education and be a "Republican pro-life woman in Congress."