Interesting, and a pity: “Former U.S. Rep, Charles Djou, a Republican, officially announced today that he is running for Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District seat.” It’s a pity because while there weren’t that many ways to take advantage of the gutter war in the Democratic primary between Brian Schatz and Colleen Hanabusa, Charles Djou was pretty much the biggest Republican name that could run who wasn’t running for something else (Hawaii doesn’t have much of a Republican presence*). Unless Linda Lingle is ready to run again, that’s pretty much it… Continue reading Charles Djou running for Hawaii-01, NOT Hawaii-SEN.
Tag: hi-01
DCCC cuts and runs from HI-01.
DOOM.
Guess they decided to stop throwing money away, more’s the pity.
The DCCC is pulling out of the race to replace ex-Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), effectively ceding the heavily Dem seat to the GOP as intra-party feuding splits the vote.
“The DCCC will not be investing additional resources in the HI-01 (Abercrombie-open) special election. Local Democrats were unable to work out their differences,” DCCC communications director Jennifer Crider said in an emailed statement. “The DCCC will save the resources we would have invested in the Hawaii special election this month for the general election in November.”
But they swear that they’ll be back for the general election! – Assuming, of course, that Hawaii Democrats stop with this silly notion that they know better than Washington does about who would be a suitable candidate for HI-01.
Moe Lane
PS: Charles Djou for Congress. After all, we want to keep this seat past November.
Crossposted to RedState.
Will the DCCC show moral courage in HI-01?
Good question, if I do say so myself:
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is re-evaluating whether to continue to spend money in this month’s Hawaii special election, Chairman Chris Van Hollen told POLITICO Thursday.
With former Democratic Rep. Ed Case and Democratic state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa splitting the Democratic vote against Republican Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou, Van Hollen said the committee recognized challenges to winning the race.
They’ve already dumped $243K into this race, so walking away now means admitting that they wasted a sizable amount of money. On the other hand, spending more and losing anyway will do the same thing, only intensified. On the gripping hand, the real issue is why they went against their own state’s political party structure in the first place…
Oh. Right. That last is because Van Hollen’s just not very good at recruiting candidates. Never mind.
Moe Lane
PS: Djou for Congress.
Crossposted to Moe Lane.
Ed Case hires a Blago Boy for HI-01 race.
Because surely you don’t think that getting Establishment Democratic support from the mainland comes free, do you?
With corruption running rampant through the ranks of the Democrat party in Washington, Hawai’i Democrat candidate Ed Case looked the other way when he hired Washington political consultant Fred Yang of Hart Research to do his polling. Yang has previously worked for disgraced former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich.
Before you dismiss that language (ultimately from the HI GOP) as being just a bit overheated, check out what the well-known right-wing mouthpiece Huffington Post said about Yang, back when he was better known as ‘Advisor B:’ Continue reading Ed Case hires a Blago Boy for HI-01 race.
Meet Charles Djou (R CAND, HI-01).
Not a CPAC video, but Councilman Djou was within video range yesterday for just enough time for me to stop by and have a quick talk with him about the HI-01 election. Executive summary: he’s got a good shot at it. He’s the only Republican in a field of three (the other two are Democrats sniping at each other); his district performed pretty strongly for Bush and Lingle (and his Councilman’s District is inside HI-01, too); and his fundraising has been good. Djou’s site is here: check him out.
In person? Smart guy, strong on fiscal conservatism, in it to win it. And endlessly patient when it comes to explaining the local intricacies of Hawaiian elections.
Moe Lane
Crossposted to RedState.
Neil Abercrombie (D) sets resignation date.
This was known, by the way: Abercrombie is resigning in order to run for Governor. He’ll be ending his term at the end of February:
Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) announced today that he will be resigning from the House next month so he can run for governor, a move that sets the stage for a special election to fill his seat.
“I can now set the effective date of my resignation for February 28, 2010, which will enable state elections officials to plan for a timely and cost-effective special election for the First Congressional District to select a successor who will carry on the work of the people,” Abercrombie said in a statement.
Under Hawaii election law, the state’s chief election officer is tasked with setting the date for a special election, which would be held at least 70 days after the formal resignation.
Via The Caucus. This is a good pickup opportunity for the GOP: the NRCC recruited a good candidate (Charles Djou) and he’s been positioned to run for some time. Also, the Democrats are running two candidates. The actual nature of the special election hasn’t been determined yet, but we’re in a good position for this one.
Moe Lane
Crossposted to RedState.
Meet Charles Djou (likely R, HI-01).
He’s already filed to run for the House seat on the Republican side. Charles is a Honolulu City Councilman, Army Reserve officer, and law professor; plugged into Facebook and MySpace; decently sound on the issues; and is apparently already endorsed by Gov. Lingle and the Hawaii GOP (H/T: BackyardConservative). Cook currently ranks it as D+7; but both Bush and Lingle did well in the district.
And, most importantly, fairly solid speculation has it that current incumbent Neil Abercrombie will be running for Governor next year. Even if he doesn’t get the nomination for that, Abercrombie’s focus will be elsewhere, and Djou’s actually doing well in fundraising so far. So keep an eye on this race; and if you’re a Republican from Hawaii, I suggest that you think about helping out with either time or money.
Because every Congressional race counts.
Crossposted to RedState.