Talk Story
Cayetano’s post-mortem:
Why Hirono lost electionBEN CAYETANO invited Star-Bulletin editors and writers over to his office Tuesday for one last meeting before turning over the keys to the governor's office to Republican Linda Lingle.
How, we asked, did Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono lose the election? "Well," he said, "there are many reasons why she had a really difficult time. One, jumping in different races, eh? But the environment was just a bad one for Democrats."
Campaign Spending Commission Executive Director "Bob Watada was a one-man wrecking crew as far as I'm concerned," he said. "Whether the things he talks about actually pan out into something that's criminal, I don't know, but that didn't help."
He reflected, "We've been in for a long, long time. I was looking at it and, you know, we've been in since 1954. We've controlled the state Legislature -- and we still do -- 48 years, the governorship 40 years. So, you know the law of physics: 'What goes up at some point in time will have to come down.'"
Hirono had other shortcomings. "I don't think her campaign had sufficient funding. I don't think the campaign was particularly well run. I would have run it differently.
"I didn't think that, you know, having ads saying 'I walked the picket line with the teachers' would play well with anybody, maybe even including the teachers. 'We increased the teachers' pay from $25,000 to $34,300 in less than six years' would have been better."
Cayetano's administration has enumerated its initiatives and accomplishments in the Winter 2002 issue of Imi Loa magazine, published by the governor's office. Cayetano sent copies to the newsroom before our meeting.
Why, we asked, didn't Hirono run more on that record?
With a touch of irony, he said, "I guess maybe, with my, ah ... superior favorable ratings with the public, she may have felt she needed to distance herself from me, like Gore did with Clinton. But there was a lot I thought we could talk about and she chose not to."
The crux was, "When you let the opposition take charge of the change agenda, then you're in real trouble. The way I would have done it ... when the opposition talked about (Hawaii's economic) problems, I would say, 'Well, you said you thought George Bush was the greatest president in history. What is the mainland economy like?'
"See, everything is comparative. I mean, we look at ourselves in isolation."
In retrospect, Cayetano said, "The Democratic Party has achieved almost everything it set out to achieve. When you don't have any more of these huge targets to deal with anymore then you kind of settle down to the things that have nothing to do with ideology, that are very, very practical, like jobs and stuff like that.
"People tend to hold whoever is in office responsible for their present condition."
The voters have changed, too. "Demographics in Hawaii have changed. Many, many people who come to Hawaii have no real connection to the history that held Democrats together for so, so very long.
"That not only includes people from the mainland, but (also) recent immigrants. It includes our young people who may have Democrat parents but whom we may have pampered into self-indulgence."
He laughed -- imagine, pampered Democrats!
"Lingle was successful in holding herself up as the change agent," Cayetano concedes.
"I believe that elections are won more by the heart than the brain, and in this particular election I don't think the issues made that much of a difference. The question was, 'Who is going to change things for the better?'
"I think the Democratic Party was kind of running out of steam."
John Flanagan is the Star-Bulletin's contributing editor.
He can be reached at: jflanagan@starbulletin.com.