GO, NAGO, GO

Success at the polls? All in favor, vote 'aye'

If Scott Nago thought it was tough being grilled by state senators about the flailing state Office of Elections, think again. Now the really hard part begins. The 36-year-old has been named the state's permanent chief elections officer, following the tumultuous tenure then resignation of Kevin Cronin.

Nago will need to hit the ground running, with a special election for Congress looming in May, a budget shortfall still unresolved, a voting-vendor contract to sign and no less than the office of governor (among many others) in the balance come the fall elections. Good luck, Mr. Nago.

COUNT 'EM IN

2010 Census gives economy a lift

That flood of U.S. Census workers ready to canvass the nation is doing more than counting American citizens. They're boosting the U.S. economy. A report from the U.S. Commerce Department's Economics and Statistics Administration estimates that the temporary hiring of more than 500,000 decennial Census workers nationwide by May will lower unemployment and boost spending in the second quarter of 2010.

CYBER STAR

Mayor Hannemann is connected socially

We in Hawaii know he can sing — and often does, at the drop of a hat — but Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann's social skills also seem to be a hit in the cyberworld.

Samepoint, LLC, a search engine for finding and tracking consumer-generated opinions across the social web, finds that Hannemann comes in No. 3 in its “;most social mayor”; ranking.

Analyzing fans and followers across social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to derive its rankings, Samepoint named San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom as the country's top online-connected mayor.

The study covers the 100 largest U.S. cities.