Today, the 170 or so members of the Republican National Committee and an unknown number of aides, acolytes and auxiliaries who have enjoyed our scenic shores, hotels, luau venues, mai tai bars and whale-watching excursions, and who have contributed maybe about $800,000—depending on mai tai consumption—to a desperate tourism economy will be doffing “;Hawaiian”; shirts and deluxe rubber slippers to fly to points East.

Aloha and mahalo.

I mean it.

These intrepid souls have weathered the potshots that come with trying to do serious business in la-la-lei land. Encumbered by pink-flamingo, blue-lagoon optics contrary to the somber image Republicans like to project, they manned up enough to withstand criticism from some of the most uncivil figures in the Grand Old Party.

House Republican whip Eric Cantor, whose perpetually grim countenance makes you wonder if he lacks the smile gene, was one of them.

“;Do I want voters to think that Republicans do nothing but go to beach resorts in January?”; he asked. “;No,”; he continued. Had he ended the question after “;do nothing,”; the answer from many Democrats and voters might have been “;yes,”; but let's not go there right now.

As happens with others who choose Hawaii for a conference, RNC chairman Michael Steele spent a lot of time defending his selection.

His reasons ranged from throwing a bone to his friend, Linda Lingle, and the state party that had helped elect him leader, to stomping on the very turf President Barack Obama claims as his birthplace, though this remains a matter of contention among some Republican left-field units.

Steele also sees aquamarine Hawaii as a place where his party can make rosy inroads, hoping to follow one GOP governor with another while replacing a liberal Democrat with a conservative in the U.S. House.

Lingle herself stepped in to stand by her man. Though plane tickets to Hawaii are more expensive than flying to a sparkling vacation oasis like Myrtle Beach, S.C., the governor pointed out that “;our hotel room rates are less than what we pay when we go to Washington.”; (Kamaaina discounts don't apply in D.C.)

“;It is a great decision to come to the president's home state, the most diverse state in America, a state that is focused on Asia, which is our future, and the headquarters of the Pacific armed forces,”; Lingle said.

Despite the somewhat Palin-esque syntax, she is correct. There's nothing wrong with doing serious work sans snow and sleet, and the committee has important decisions to make.

One is a vote on a resolution that identifies the Top 10 policy positions (somewhat David Lettermanesque) from which a Republican candidate must choose at least seven to adhere to in order to pass what's called a test of “;purity”; (which has a somewhat Aryan-nation-esque ring to it) and get RNC funds and endorsements.

See? They're doing major, heads-down work here. When the party poopers who whine that nothing real can ever happen at island conventions take notice of the vital projects the RNC got going here, Hawaii might lose its bad rep for business sessions.

For that, aloha oe, RNC, 'til we meet again.