David Ige (D) filed his papers at the Office of Elections today to run for governor of Hawaii. He will be facing the incumbent, Neil Abercrombie, also a Democrat; Duke Aiona, Republican; and Mufi Hannemann, former Democrat who is now Independent.
Duke, former lieutenant governor under former Governor Linda Lingle (R), ran for governor four years ago and lost to Abercrombie by 18 percent of the vote.
Mufi is the former mayor of Honolulu, a nonpartisan office. He ran for the U.S. House of Representatives from District 2 (the neighbor islands and rural Oahu) as a Democrat in 2012 and lost in the primary by 20 percent to Tulsi Gabbard (D), who started the campaign as a relative unknown. She became much better known during the campaign and is now serving in Congress. The fact that she was the daughter of well-known Hawaii State Senator Mike Gabbard didn't hurt.
While there are numerous other candidates for governor, these four candidates are the only ones perceived as having much of a chance at this point.
Ige is presently a Hawaii state senator and serves as chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. He also serves on the Higher Education Committee and Tourism Committee.
Neil Abercrombie's campaign office announced just this evening that the governor is way ahead in the polls.
We have conducted one of the largest polls* of the campaign season so far with 1,402 registered voters statewide. It showed 42% would vote for Governor Abercrombie compared to 28% for Ige. That’s a 14-point lead. While there may be newer polls, none are as extensive or in depth. —Bill Kaneko, Abercrombie Campaign
Maybe they're right, but Ige just officially threw his hat into the ring today, polls have shown a Hawaii candidate far ahead before who wound up losing, and we don't know if the questions asked were push questions (worded to extract a desired answer) or not.*
Cayetano says in this video that his close friend Neil Abercrombie has changed since he has become governor. Cayetano may be on to something. Abercrombie appears unnecessarily disdainful of people who disagree with him, getting hot under the collar and putting them down, such as one occasion I witnessed where those who didn't agree that our keiki should go to school one year earlier were sneered at as those against education for children. For someone who possesses a silver tongue, this appeared to be an unnecessarily crude and arrogant way to handle the situation, evincing a complete lack of regard for those parents' concerns, such as not wanting another year of mandatory brain washing and perhaps unhealthy vaccinations for their children. Or perhaps feeling that one more year with their mother at that critical stage of life would be best.
*Poll Conducted by SMS Research
Sample Frame: 80% Landline, 20% Cell
Margin of Error: +/-2.61% points statewide
Dates: March 24 – April 25, 2014
Link:
2014 Hawaii candidate websites [Hawaii Political Info]
