[ U.S. CONGRESS ]

Single issue still
defines Gabbard

The GOP fields four candidates in
the primary; Case also has a challenger

Candidates for U.S. Congress

---

For Mike Gabbard to successfully challenge for the 2nd Congressional District seat, he has to overcome his image as a one-issue candidate.

The Honolulu City Councilman is among four candidates vying for the Republican spot on November's general election ballot for the seat representing rural Oahu and the neighbor islands. The others are physician Inam Rahman and lifeguard Miles Shiratori from Oahu and chiropractor Jonathan Treat from Maui.

Ed Case, who won the seat in a 2003 special election, faces a challenge from Hilo businessman John Gentile in next week's Democratic primary.

Independent candidate Sophie Mataafa from Maui also hopes to win a spot on the ballot.

If there is one issue on which Case and Gabbard agree, it is that voters don't know much about Gabbard besides that he opposes same-sex marriage. He has the highest name recognition among the Republicans due largely to his outspoken opposition as state lawmakers debated the issue. Gabbard, the founder and chairman of the Alliance for Traditional Marriage and Values, was elected to the City Council last year, but is not seeking re-election so he can run for Congress.

Gabbard concedes that voters do not know much about him. Case has challenged Gabbard to reveal more about himself.

Another Republican, former television newsman Dalton Tanonaka, is facing a different kind of challenge in his campaign for the 1st Congressional District seat representing urban Oahu.

When he announced his candidacy in June, Tanonaka said he had "a solid amount of money" to start his campaign. In the latest Federal Election Commission data released last month, Tanonaka reported he had raised $16,815 and spent $10,956, leaving just $5,858 cash on hand in his June 30 report. His campaign account in his bid in 2002 for lieutenant governor has a $120,652 deficit, according to his latest report to the state Campaign Spending Commission.

Incumbent Democrat Neil Abercrombie had $684,923 cash on hand in his June 30 FEC report.

Abercrombie, Tanonaka and Libertarian candidate Elyssa Young have no opposition in next week's primaries and will face off in the Nov. 2 general elections.

Seven-term senator Daniel Inouye also is up for re-election. Others running for his seat include Democrats Evans and Eddie Yoon; Republicans Cam Cavasso, James DeLuze, Jay Friedheim and Richard Payne; Libertarian Lloyd Mallan; and independents James Brewer and J. Turner Brown.

---