ASSOCIATED PRESS
Republican congressional candidate Mark Terry, running against incumbent Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, greeted morning traffic in Honolulu on Saturday. Terry's campaign has consisted of sign-waving and some leaflet distribution.
An admittedly shy auto detailer is running an exceptionally low-key race for Congress as the Republican candidate in Hawaii's 1st District. Forgotten GOP candidate
battles AbercrombieMark Terry has waged a low-key
campaign for the U.S. HouseBy David Briscoe
Associated PressEven his own party won't return his calls, says Mark D. Terry, and friends who contributed to his failed runs for the state Legislature are reluctant to put up money for his effort to unseat seven-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie.
"I feel I have a chance to win, but one in a thousand," said Terry, who appears more comfortable talking about his work than about his campaign.
"It involves washing the car, waxing it, polishing the chrome, vacuuming the inside, conditioning the leather, using Armor All on the tires and around the door seals -- anything you can do to clean it up," he says, describing his one-man business.
Republicans in Hawaii are all but ignoring Terry and the 1st District.
"I'm running because I saw the party had not recruited a strong candidate in this deal," said Terry. "Congressional candidates are on the top of the ballot, and, if I do well, it may pull in votes for others," including GOP gubernatorial candidate Linda Lingle, he said.
"There's a lot of unhappiness with Neil Abercrombie and with the Democratic Party, but I'm afraid in this election they're not taking advantage of it," Terry said in a telephone interview.
Terry, 64, was born in Marysville, Kan., graduated from the University of Nebraska with a degree in Spanish and English education, and moved to Hawaii in 1989 because of its climate.
His campaign has included some lone sign-waving and distributing leaflets, but he's counting on at least one face-off with Abercrombie: a joint appearance Oct. 27 at a Honolulu Chinese community group event to be simultaneously translated into Chinese.
He says the biggest issue in his campaign is Abercrombie, whom he calls "too far left" and too tied to mainland special interests for Hawaii.
His campaign manager, nurses' aide Kim Fraser, says Terry's campaign is serious but his resources are scant.
"This is the time for change," she said. "The old-boy network has no place on this island. It's not worked. It's only given us deficit. We need an upstart like Mark Terry."
In contrast to the Republican's shoestring campaign, Abercrombie plans a big fund-raising concert at the Hawaii Convention Center with some of the islands' most popular musical groups.
Abercrombie says he's been fighting for Hawaii residents, pushing health care improvements and seeking federal recognition for Hawaiians as native people entitled to self-government.
Little known as he is, Terry received 8,802 votes to win the four-way Republican primary. He also notes that nearly 27,000 Democratic voters cast blank votes against Abercrombie's 69,000 in the Democratic primary.
Abercrombie was first elected in 1986, with two years off in 1988 to sit on the Honolulu City Council. His support slipped in 2000 when he won with 62 percent of the vote, down from 85 percent in 1998.
Even though the district and the state are heavily Democratic, in 1996 Abercrombie came within three percentage points of being beaten by former Vietnam prisoner of war Orson Swindle, now U.S. federal trade commissioner.
"The party's philosophy is they are concentrating on winning the governor's race and the state House and they feel the congressional races are pretty much lost," said Terry.
"They could be right," he added.
