Democrats Ed Case and Colleen Hanabusa used the last televised debate of the special election campaign to attack Republican Charles Djou, taking particular aim at his recent comment that the race was “;pretty much over.”;

The debate was taped yesterday and is scheduled to air at 5 p.m. today on KHON.

Candidates covered little new ground on issues, with Djou restating his opposition to federal spending programs such as the economic stimulus and the recent health care reform act. Case and Hanabusa, meanwhile, cast themselves as solid Democrats willing to help President Barack Obama advance his agenda.

Case wasted no time, using his opening statement to call out Djou for the comments he made in Thursday's editions of The Hill, a Washington, D.C., newspaper that covers Congress.

“;Two days ago Charles said this election was over,”; Case said. “;The problem is, he didn't ask you and the 200,000 other voters who haven't voted yet.”;

He later called the remark arrogant, contending that Djou never expected the comment to make it back to Hawaii.

“;I think it was a statement, quite frankly, of some arrogance to say that, and he believes it when he says it,”; Case said. “;That being what it is, the voters are entitled to judge him and the person that he is by that comment.”;

Djou was quoted in The Hill as saying, “;This election is pretty much over.”;

He added, “;Mathematically, it becomes next to impossible (for Democrats) to win this race unless you stuff the ballot box. I'm not calling it a day by any means ... but the bulk of the ballots have already been turned in. It is almost anticlimactic.”;

Djou's camp previously said the comment was taken out of context.

In the debate, Djou acknowledged the race is not over and also argued that the seat does not belong to Democrats, but to the people of Hawaii.

“;What's going on here in this race is a clear frustration by half of the establishment—of the machine—that my message is resonating with the people of Hawaii,”; Djou said. “;I've built my entire career, over 10 years, fighting tax increases and fighting for limited government and, most of all, fighting for my constituents.”;

Hanabusa took issue with Djou's comment about “;stuffing the ballot box,”; saying it impugns the reputation of the Office of Elections and those who are working on the election.

“;By making an innuendo that somehow ballot boxes are going to be stuffed—that is just unacceptable,”; she said. “;My frustration is not getting a clear answer to why you would come up with a statement that says mathematically it's over and then to go on to say the only way a Democrat could win would be to stuff a ballot box.

“;That's a direct affront on the people who are handling this election process.”;

As of Thursday the state Office of Elections reported about 122,000 (38 percent) of the 317,000 ballots mailed to registered voters in the district have been returned.

The deadline for ballots to be received is next Saturday, when they also will be counted.

This was the fourth televised forum featuring the three major candidates, following debates on PBS, Hawaii News Now and KITV.

Thus far, none of the candidates has set himself or herself apart from the others, said University of Hawaii political scientist Neal Milner.

The debates “;have done very little to move the candidates one way or the other, partially because nobody did anything dramatically bad or dramatically good,”; he said. “;I actually think people who matter most are the ones who are least likely to watch the debates—that would be the independents who make the decision a little late.”;