Governor’s race Gov. Ben Cayetano, who had predicted that the Democrats would win the governor's race this fall, is now rating the contest "a tossup."
is now a tossup,
Cayetano says
He says the big job facing
Cayetano endorses Hee for lieutenant gov
Democrats is beating Linda LingleBy Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.comCayetano warned that the big challenge for Democrats will be to beat Republican Linda Lingle in the general election.
Cayetano makes his new prediction because the Democratic Party front-runner, Mayor Jeremy Harris, has been unable to campaign because of questions about whether he should resign to run. He is also dogged by a city prosecutor investigation into his campaign finance fund-raising practices.
In an interview at his state Capitol office last week, Cayetano said he thinks Harris must win the state Supreme Court appeal to allow him to remain as mayor while campaigning for governor.
A Circuit Court judge ruled against Harris, saying he violated the state resign-to-run law by staying as mayor while campaigning for governor.
Harris has frozen his campaign pending the outcome of the appeal.
"It certainly has changed because of what happened to Harris," Cayetano said when asked if the governor's race is changing. "If Harris is able to ... if the court rules in his favor, the Democrats have a good chance of winning.
"But I think the campaign now is not going well," Cayetano said.
The governor, a Kalihi-born Democrat who served in the state House and Senate before becoming lieutenant governor in 1986 and governor in 1994, said if Harris does not win the Democratic primary, D.G. "Andy" Anderson might be able to win, because the other major Democrat, Rep. Ed Case has not "moved his campaign."
"To his credit, he is not given to political showboating as Harris is," Cayetano said, referring to Anderson.
He added that Anderson, a former Republican leader, may have trouble convincing Democrats that he is a "true Democrat."
"He can attract the Hawaiian vote and the Caucasian vote, but for a long time, the Japanese community didn't like him because of the things he said (as a Republican).
"If he can get around that and convince people that he is a true Democrat now, you never know what might happen between now and September," Cayetano said.
Anderson, Cayetano said, also is part-Hawaiian and that would make him attractive to Hawaiian voters, the governor said.
"And the thing about Andy is he is local," Cayetano said.
He joked that he told Anderson, 71, that when they both served in the state Senate in 1982, Anderson "looked like a movie star," but now "when you see him, he is kind of old."
"I told him (when Anderson does television commercials), put on makeup, for crying out loud."
Cayetano, who has had a long history of political disagreements with Anderson, said that if Anderson wins the primary, he would campaign for him.
"I have been impressed with the way he has handled himself, I think he has shown mature leadership," Cayetano said.
In reaction, Anderson said he agrees that the "general election will be the battle" but said he thinks the Democrats would easily prevail.
"This state is still a Democratic state and had there not been such a high anti-administration vote (in 1998) Lingle would not have scored so high," Anderson said.
Lingle came within 5,000 votes of beating Cayetano in the 1998 race for governor.
"Now we are not defending a previous administration, we don't have to defend his style, I sit here confident that I can win this race," Anderson said.
The co-chairman of Harris' campaign said the campaign was excited about two recent federal court decisions that had ruled in favor of Harris.
"I understand the governor's concern," Rick Tsujimura, said.
"I have to disagree ... we are confident that our position is even stronger and that we will win," Tsujimura said.
Case said he thought the Republicans would win if the Democrats do not pick him.
"I am the only candidate who can win in the general election," Case said. "It is a matter of the Democrats picking a candidate like myself, an independent, moderate, clean, candidate who is change-oriented."
He said Cayetano or others may not appreciate his campaign, because he is keeping a low-profile, grassroots style.
"It is not the traditional 'round up the architects, engineers and contractors' and get them to pay you a lot of money Democratic campaign," Case said. "It is not going to be won in downtown Honolulu or Bishop Street."
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In this heated political season, the candidates for lieutenant governor will be critical to the success of a Democratic gubernatorial team, according to Gov. Ben Cayetano. Cayetano endorses Hee
for lieutenant governorBy Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.comHe thinks the Democrats need to widen their appeal, so he thinks the best candidate would be his friend Clayton Hee, Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee and a former state legislator.
Cayetano said Hee, who is part-Hawaiian, would be an attractive candidate for Hawaiian voters.
"The one who brings the most to the table is Clayton Hee," Cayetano said. "The Hawaiian vote is at risk for Democrats."
He speculated that the votes for candidates for governor will break down along ethnic lines.
"I don't think there is any question that the Democratic candidate is going to get the majority of Japanese and Filipino votes because they are natural Democratic constituencies," Cayetano said.
"And if (Mayor Jeremy) Harris is the candidate, he and (Republican Linda) Lingle would probably split among the Caucasians. But Harris will be strong in the Filipino community, so the Hawaiian community is up for grabs.
"Clayton is pretty popular in the Hawaiian community, he may not be popular in the rest of the community, but the combination might be important," Cayetano added.
Hee and Cayetano served together in the Senate, and Cayetano acknowledges that Hee is a friend, but he insists that the Democrats need to find a way to attract Hawaiian voters this fall.
"In the last election, 80 percent of the Caucasians didn't vote for me, but I won, because I won a majority in all the other groups, including Hawaiians," Cayetano said.
Besides Hee, Sen. Ron Menor, school board member Donna Ikeda, and Honolulu City Councilman Jon Yoshimura have also said they wanted to run for lieutenant governor as Democrats.