I’ll still take her over Hirono or Case. And I’m not saying that Hawaii can’t elect someone more conservative than Lingle (I’m sure it can); I’m saying that it won’t elect a more conservative nobody, and we have no bench in Hawaii (Aiona’s and Djou’s losses last November killed any chance we had of building a bench of moderate-to-conservative Republican officeholders who could win a U.S. Senate race).
Nominating Lingle is pretty much our only shot at winning the Senate race next year, not because she’s a moderate, but because she has the type of experience and résumé that most Hawaii voters would expect before even considering voting for a Republican for the Senate (their standards are much lower for Democrat candidates), and has the name ID and fundraising ability that a Republican needs in order to run a competitive race. Hopefully Lingle can beat Hirono or Case (thus preventing the Dems from holding the seat for another 36 years—if Hirono or Case win, Hawaiians will keep sending them back to the Senate until they die or retire), and Djou can win back his U.S. House seat; in 2014 Aiona can try again for the governorship and in 2016 Djou can run for the Senate seat that Inouye (if he lives that long) will finally be vacating.
I’m not sure if Aiona would even want to try for a rematch. The fact he could only muster 41% in a good GOP year against a certifiable hippie Haole moonbat wasn’t good. Since statehood in 1959 (excluding 1982 & 1994 when the anti-Dem vote was split), his was the 2nd worst showing for a GOP Gubernatorial candidate (Fred Hemmings in 1990 got the lowest, at 39%).
I also think that Linda Lingle is our only shot at victory and she forces DemocRATS to spend money and resources that they’d rather spend elsewhere. As for the losses in the state legislature, in 2006 and 2008, a liberal perfect storm swept across many northern tier and Pacific states, the result of an anti-Bush backlash that local Republicans were powerless to stop.