Jonathan Singer interviewed Senator Dan Akaka this week in preparation for Saturday's primary. Singer also invited DINO Ed Case for an interview, but his call was unreturned.
Although the race between Akaka and Case has been overlooked by both the national media and, to an extent, the political blogosphere, it represents an interesting situation: Case is basically challenging Akaka from the right (though he focuses on the need to pass on power to a new generation of Hawaiians). While Senator Akaka opposed the Bush administration on policies such as Iraq and the bankruptcy reform bill, Rep. Case has supported the White House on these measures.
Mydd has done a teriffic job on this race. Chris Bowers was the one that first brought this primary to my attention. It's not as safe a seat for pro-peace Akaka as it may seem:
1) Just a month ago, the Rassmussen Poll showed it in a dead heat - 47%/45%. Singer's comments in his article about previous Hawaii polls scare me, too.
2) It's an open primary - Republicans can vote for Ed Case.
3) Ed Case, rewarded for his DINO voting record, has big business money throwing all kinds of independent expenditure dollars in this race. The Realtors spent $600K in July alone.
4) Ed Case is a Congressman - it's not like he's an unknown entity with a name-recognition problem to overcome.
I still think it's interesting to contrast the two big Democratic Senate primaries this year... Lieberman getting trounced by Lamont, but he wasn't facing an open primary like Hawaii. These things change shape with little notice, thanks to voter frustrations with government overall.
If you are still reading this diary post, I hope you'll join me in a continuing effort to follow this race.
Learn more at Akaka's Website.