Senate Showdown
They may both be Democrats, but as a member of MidWeek’s editorial board commented after Sen. Dan Akaka and his challenger, Congressman Ed Case, visited our office for interviews, they’re ‘like night and day’
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Akaka: Aloha works in the Senate
Ed Case is attempting to succeed where many others have failed.
Since Hawaii became a state in 1959, no incumbent member of the state’s congressional delegation has ever been defeated. Ever.
There have been spirited contests. In 1964, one-term congressman Tom Gill challenged Republican United States Sen. Hiram Fong. Gill, a brilliant labor lawyer with a grasp for issues and policy and much admired even by his political foes, ran hard in a Hawaii at the peak of its Democratic tide. But in the end, he lost.
In 1970, wealthy television executive Cec Heftel - answering the summons of Sen. Dan Inouye - spent a bundle of money in yet another attempt to unseat incumbent Fong. Heftel came close enough to help persuade Fong to vacate the seat in 1976. But all Heftel’s money and Inouye’s support couldn’t unseat an incumbent.
Case: It’s time for a change
In 1994, the Republican Party nominated former Vietnam War POW Orson Swindle to run against U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie. Swindle ran well, but Abercrombie prevailed and hasn’t faced serious opposition since.
That’s it. Others, always lesser known and underfinanced, have tried. But most haven’t caused a ripple in the placid pond of Hawaii congressional incumbency.
So what makes Case think he can do it?
First, the two-term, 2nd District
incumbent feels the voters will understand the need for a younger United States senator: “Hawaii’s in transition. Sen. Akaka has been in Congress for 30 years, 16 of them in the Senate. But both our senators are turning 82. Hawaii has to look to the future.
“Given Sen. Inouye’s achievements, we need him. But we need a younger senator to begin building up seniority. Look at Oregon; they lost both Bob Packwood and Mark Hatfield at the same time and they’ve been struggling to get anything in the Senate since. I’m young enough to serve for a generation.”
Second, Case feels he better reflects the state’s changing demographics: “We have a difference in political philosophy. Akaka is a far left liberal. I’m ranked at 40 percent, slightly left of center. The question is: ‘Do you match the constituency?’ Hawaii was far left liberal, but it isn’t today and we won’t be over the next 25 years. We’re a moderate state today that leans Democratic.”
Iraq
How will Akaka defend the seat? On the issues, for one - particularly on the issue of Iraq. Case wasn’t in Congress when the vote authorizing President George W. Bush to invade Iraq took place, but he’s stated that, knowing what Congress knew then, he would have supported the authorization.
“I voted against authorizing the president to invade Iraq,” says Akaka. “And my concerns proved out. I’ve been to Iraq. I’ve talked with Iraq leaders. They want to govern as quickly as they can. They want the Americans out. They want us to help train their police, to help create jobs. So I supported Sen. Kerry’s plan to pull our troops out of Iraq by July 2007.
“I’m on the Armed Services Committee; I’m the ranking member on the Preparedness Subcommittee. When I returned from Iraq, I pushed for passing on as much responsibility as possible to the Iraqi people. They have the capacity to govern themselves. I believe the Iraqi people are capable, but we need to put pressure on them to act. ‘Staying the course’ is not the answer.”
Akaka would also entertain the idea of a federated Iraq: a Kurdish north, a Sunni Baghdad and a Shiite south. “I believe in culture,” he says. “A federated state needs to be considered. I would feel more secure with it.”
Case rejects a timetable for withdrawal. “Sen. Akaka’s position is naïve,” he says. “A firm time-table for disengagement sends the wrong message. It’s not just about Iraq. The whole Middle East is facing basic choices, between governments antagonistic to the West and more moderate governments. It’s about terrorism. We can’t allow international terrorism to find a home in Iraq. We cannot allow Iraq to have a civil war.”
Perhaps, but Hawaii’s Democrats, like Democrats across the nation, are highly critical of the war in Iraq, from the invasion to the Bush administration’s prosecution of the war to the occupation - and both Hawaii’s senior United States senator, Dan Inouye, and Hawaii’s 1st District congressman, Neil Abercrombie,
joined Akaka in October 2002 in voting against authorizing the president to invade.
Both Inouye and Abercrombie have endorsed Akaka for re-election, and Inouye has given $300,000 to Akaka’s campaign. A number of United States senators, including Hawaii-born Barack Obama, have all spoken out in support of the incumbent.
Democratic credentials
Others have questioned whether Case belongs in the Democratic Party. The challenger bridles at the suggestion. “Who’s the Democratic Party?” he asks. “Ten to 15 people in a room downtown. I reject their 100 percent test: If you’re not 100 percent with us, then you’re not a Democrat. That’s a prescription for minority status for the Democratic Party. We need to be less partisan. There needs to be more consensus. Ten to 15 moderate senators decide most issues in the United States Senate. That’s my natural home.”
Akaka feels that his style trumps partisanship. “Lots of aloha causes people to want to help you,” he says. “During
debates on the Senate floor, when people oppose me they actually come up afterwards to apologize. I’m about building bridges, not burning them. Believe me, good relationships help in the Senate.”
Akaka Bill
Akaka failed to build enough bridges, however, to force a vote on the Senate floor for his long-sought-after Akaka Bill - more formally known as the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act. The bill would bring recognition of Hawaiians as the native peoples of Hawaii and allow them a
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