Governor fires up
Dems for election

The convention ends energetically
days after Harris pulls out
of the governor's race

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By Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.com

And ... they're off.

With cheers and hand-holding, Democrats wrapped up their state convention yesterday, but not before Gov. Ben Cayetano and other party leaders fired parting shots at the GOP and its gubernatorial front-runner, Linda Lingle.

"This state, this special state that we all call home and which we all love ... is too precious to give away to a party with a philosophy that government should not do anything to help our people," Cayetano told the gathering estimated by organizers at more than 1,000.

In a fiery speech that roused the crowd, U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink, D-Hawaii, said, "We have the record, they have nothing. So they adopt a platform that says nothing because they've done nothing and they will do nothing."

With the Republican and Democratic state conventions in the history books, the start of the 2002 political campaign season is now under way.

"Everybody is up. They are ready to go," said former Gov. John Waihee.

Waihee and others said that the three-day convention opened on a downer with the announcement Thursday by Mayor Jeremy Harris that he was leaving the governor's race because polls showed he could not beat Lingle.

"We started off maybe a little disappointed on Thursday, but almost by Saturday, Democrats are coming back. There's a different feeling in the air," Waihee said. The three candidates still in the governor's race, businessman and former state lawmaker D.G. "Andy" Anderson, Rep. Ed Case (D, Manoa) and Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, appeared rejuvenated, he said.

"Now we have a real Democratic Convention and Party. This is the kind of situation I'm used to, where we actually have contested primaries," Waihee said. Cayetano said after the convention that the event exceeded his expectations.

"I've been to many conventions before where there's no contest, the energy level is not as high. This convention is probably the most energetic that I've been to in a very, very long time," he said.

"I think the party is together -- you saw it today -- but we need to remember that there are a million people outside of this building today who need to be convinced, and that's what we've got to do, we've got to go out and sell."

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, said of organizing the Democratic Party, "It's like trying to herd cats -- cannot be done, forget about it," but that does not mean that the party is in disarray, confusion or conflict because there are multiple candidates running.

"I can't wait for this contest to get started. I can't wait for them to see us out there when they think we're going to fall down," he said.

One strategy will be to point out the differences between Democrats and Republicans for those who do not vote because they believe lines are blurred, the leaders said.

"The biggest challenge that we have: to instruct those people that there is a basic difference," Mink said. The Democrats honed in on Lingle's fund raising outside of Hawaii, including seeking help from ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

They also targeted her remarks that she plans to repeal several consumer bills -- including one to cap gas prices -- passed by the Legislature this past session if she is elected governor.

"There's no question it's going to be a difficult race because the suddenness in which Mayor Harris dropped out left a big hole," Cayetano said. "I think we have the message that's more important and sellable to the people."

The convention was also an opportunity for Cayetano to say farewell as governor, but he pledged that he would still be around helping the party, "stuffing envelopes, things like that."

He also told the crowd that he would be personally unhappy if he had to pass the torch to a Republican.

"On Dec. 2, that's the date the next governor gets inaugurated, and the procedure is usually, the outgoing governor has to be there," he explained. "Now, don't make life miserable for me."