Sierra Club and Vote Vets who took Tulsi Gabbard from 20 points behind Mufi Hanneman in the 2012 HI-02 race to an 21 point victory appear to be working the same magic on Mark Takai in the HI-01 race.
Democratic Congressional Primary 2014
Takai was the down 6 points from Republican-in-Dem-Clothing, Donna Mercado Kim in the May Civil Beat poll. At that time Kim was 30%, Takai was 24% and the other 5 candidates were 9% and lower.
That's when Sierra Club endorsed Takai and his numbers began climbing. The latest Civil Beat poll shows Takai leading the field at 30% (6% increase) and Kim taking a nosedive down to 23% (down 7%).
Most of Kim's loss appears to be Takai's gain with Stanley Chang (another progressive that we should keep an eye on for future elections) gaining from 9% to 14% -- still in third place.
The joke going around the Hawaii State Capitol is that Donna Kim's campaign is being bankrolled by all the state senators who don't want her back as state senate president. Sorry guys -- looks like you haven't gotten rid of her after all.
Kim succeeded state senate president, Shan Tsutsui when he was appointed to Lt. Governor (state law requires that succession) when Gov. Abercrombie appointed Senator Brian Schatz to the U.S. Senate.
Under Shan Tsutsui, the state senate ran smoothly and was judged one of the fairest and most open senates in recent memory.
Once Kim took over, there were all kinds of devious doings with testifiers being insulted and berated, bills being gutted and replaced and a Monsanto lobbyist being appointed to the Water Commission nominating committee right after the corporation was twice turned down for an increased water allotment.
Come to think of it - it might not be a joke that the other state senators are trying to pass Donna Mercado Kim off to the U.S. Congress to get rid of her!