Yes, Lingle will be a tropical Susan Collins (albeit more pro-military). But Hirono will be a tropical Ted Kennedy, and serve in the Senate just as long. Six years of Lingle with a second bite at the apple in 2018 (although unless the HI GOP has developed a bench by then it likely will be Lingle vs. Dem hack again) sounds a lot better than 42 years of Hirono.
Maybe we can elect moderate-to-conservative Republican Charles Djou to the U.S. House this November (he was elected to Congress with well under 50% in a special election in early 2010 but lost in November), and eventually he can run for governor or U.S. senator. We probably will never be able to elect a Jesse Helms or Paul Laxalt to the Senate from HI, but some day we could elect someone right of center. We just don’t have the bench yet.
I think it’s a fairly safe bet Hirono won’t serve 42 years in the Senate. She’d be 107.