Posted on 08/11/2006 10:09:30 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
Akaka (D) Leads Primary Challenger Case 47% to 45%
(Excerpt) Read more at rasmussenreports.com ...
A very interesting developement. I wonder how far the machine will go? And if they play too rough, whether it'll backfire?
Akaka will win...Not that I care
Yeah, the story pretty well nails it. That's definitely the main thing of interest in the fall's elections. I'm not even sure who's the front runner with the Democrats against Lingle, if anyone's even declared. She has pretty good approval ratings, so they've got a real uphill climb.
I was very tempted to register as a Democrat here - the better half just retired from the Army, so I guess we're now offically Hawaii residents not Texans. If I were registered as a Democrat I'd have more say in the primaries who was more palatable. I decided I couldn't stand all the pro-lib literature in the mail, though.
Lots of argument amongst the Pubbies as to who they'd be better off with - Akaka who might get sick and replaced by Lingle, or Case who would probably guarantee another Senator-For-Life like Akaka and Inouye have been. Case is only slightly less liberal than Akaka (though he's being portrayed by the Akaka Club as George Bush Lite) but he's nicer about it.
I've heard that during the 1990's, there was a sense that the Democratic Machine had made a mess of things. And things have visibly improved since Lingle became Governor. This may have an effect on this primary, as Hawaii has no party registration.
Case is being portrayed as quite the upstart, daring to go against age and experience. Kucinich was over on Maui on Wednesday talking to all the aging hippie Kucinich groupies for Akaka.
Hawaii's drifting ever so slightly to the right, though, with more people from the mainland retiring here and more of the solid Japanese political clique dying off.
I doubt Case is financing his campaign by selling off his AOL stock.
This isn't a Connecticut posting, but IMHO there are parallels between this primary and the Lieberman/Lamont race. Thought you'd be interested.
"I doubt Case is financing his campaign by selling off his AOL stock."
If he was, it would already be in the Hawaii newspapers.
I'm not sure about a parallel because as far as I know neither Case nor Akaka is pro-war as is Lieberman. In addition, the challenger is the less liberal (Case) whereas in CT the challenger is the hard-core leftist.
Hawaii is about to elect a semi-comatose 80 year old as a senator whose main goal is pushing for a bunch of tribal grifters to get casinos, bigger land grabs, and more federal tax money.
Lovely.....
I love the appropriate name of his senatorial colleague -- Daniel IN-NO-WAY. It reflects his voting record on security and national defense and limited government.
Sounds like the Hawaii I remember from my youth! Some things never change. I remember once as a maybe highschool kid or new college kid hearing a radio ad with the voice of an old Philipino man, and at the end of the ad he says "Vote Democrat". He doesn't even say who to vote for, just what to vote for. That's the Hawaii I remember...
A win for Case, though he is more conservative, is a loss for us in the long run IMO.
Akaka is so old that he has one term left in him at best. If Case gets elected though we get another 5-term Dem Senator with the advantage of incumbency in 2012. Case is in his '50s. Who knows? With medical technology he could still be a Senator (and a fairly liberal one at that) until 2024 or 2030.
I would rather let Akaka live out the next term and then put Lingle up in a head-on battle for the open seat with Ed Case in 2012.
I like getting liberal junk mails. If they have my name in their list, it means they already over estimate their strength by one person. Oh, the junk mails? Either thrown , or shredded right away.
I'm torn. On one hand, I prefer Akaka to win this seat again. If they get Case in the senate, that seat will stay in Democrat's hand for many decades. On the other hand, if Case gets it now, when Inouye retires in not too distance future (I hope), Lingle would be available. And the way it goes now, Lingle may have a good chance to get elected as a Senator. She may be a RINO, but for me--unlike some people here--she's better than any Democratic Senator.
We may even get another opening: the other Daniel: Inouye. Same as Akaka, he's also old.
Actually, Case is running as the pro-war candidate versus Akaka as the anti-war candidate. It's the next central point in Case's campaign after the 'changing of the guard' issue and Akaka's (in)effectiveness.
That's exactly the argument I'm hearing from quite a few Republicans and it makes a lot of sense. I like Ed Case better than Akaka, and he'd be a better with the war on terror than Akaka by far. However, the long-term consequences seem exactly as you describe, and I really like the idea of Lingle in the Senate when she's term-limited out of the governorship.
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