Posted on 08/11/2006 10:02:07 AM PDT by BlackRazor
Hawaii Senate: September's Primary Shaping Up to be a Showdown
Akaka (D) Leads Primary Challenger Case 47% to 45%
August 11, 2006
Senator Daniel Akaka Hawaii’s Senate seat will be decided on September 23—Primary Day—rather than November 8. That’s when Democrats Daniel Akaka, the incumbent senator seeking his fourth full term, and U.S. Rep. Ed Case will square off for their party’s nomination in November. And with a little more than a month to go in the primary battle, the contest is either candidate’s to win.
According to the most recent Rasmussen Reports election poll, Sen. Akaka leads Case 47% to 45% (see crosstabs). That’s a surprisingly narrow margin for the incumbent war veteran who has represented the Aloha State in the Senate since 1990.
Akaka and Case are both viewed Very Favorably by 23% of the states’ voters. Case slightly edges out Akaka on overall favorable ratings, however,
Regardless of which candidate wins on September 23, it appears that the seat will remain safely in the Democrats’ hands. Assuming Akaka is the party’s candidate, 58% of voters surveyed prefer him to Republican Jerry Coffee (30%.) Should Case succeed in unseating Akaka, 63% say they’ll vote for him over Coffee (21%.)
When asked for their opinion of Coffee, 10% of voters say they have a Very Favorable opinion, 15% a Very Unfavorable one, and 30% still aren’t sure what they think of him.
It should be noted that Coffee’s campaign has been suspended at least temporarily due to health reasons. The candidate underwent heart surgery in Texas on August 8 and it remains to be seen if he’ll resume his campaign efforts following his recovery. Even if he chooses to sit out the remainder of the race, his name will still appear on September’s ballot along with the five other candidates vying for the GOP nomination.
Voters in most states rate the economy as the most important issue for Election 2006. However, in Hawaii, the war in Iraq (27%) is the top concern. The economy is close behind, rated most important by 23%.
Interestingly, for a state that was the site of several missionary expeditions and settlements beginning in the early 1800’s, only 28% of respondents believe the Bible is literally true; 57% do not. On the issue of same sex marriage, a slim majority—51%—says marriage is the union of a man and a woman only and 45% say it’s the joining of any two people.
Both Hawaii's senators are over 80, no?
No. Either one of these Dems annihilates the Republican, who himself is out for heart surgery or something for the next several weeks.
"Mr. Akaka. Mr. Akaka, No." -C-Span (almost everyday of the week).
No what? I never suggested the Republicans had a chance here. I asked whether another Dem incumbent was going to go down.
Oh, possibly. I don't see how that helps us though.
The characters for Akaka, in Japanese, mean "Red House" and this senile old coot has certainly voted with the Reds.
I hope so.
Trust me when I say this. Case is the lesser of two evils.
Akaka is utterly worthless.
Hey Case is the conservative in this race. He is the only one of the four from pineappleville with a double diget ACU rating 19%! :-0
Well, it IS "Blue Hawaii" is it not? Nonetheless, Quentin Kawananakoa (R) has a good chance of winning Case's house seat in November.
Case is a (relatively) conservative Democrat and would be a big improvement. Akaka is a boob. Who is this Coffee guy anyway? I never heard of him.
The problem is that Case is only in his 50s and Akaka is 82. If Akaka gets reelected he probably only would have one term left and we'd have a chance to get a Republican in in 2012. If Case gets elected though he'll basically be Senator-for-life for 4 terms or more. I think it's better for Akaka to win and then for us to put up a strong candidate in 2012 for what will probably be an open seat.
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