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Charles Djou became the first Republican elected in a federal race from Hawaii in decades, winning an unusual House special election to replace Neil Abercrombie, who resigned to run for Governor. As you can see in the election results, Djou, a Honolulu city councilman, captured 39.5% of the vote, winning because two Democrats split the vote between them. Colleen Hanabusa, the President of the Hawaii state Senate, came in second with 30.8% of the vote, while ConservaDem Ed Case finished third with 27.6%. Eleven other candidates split the rest of the vote.
After all the hype about Ed Case, he ended up finishing third. The heavy turnout for a special election (about 53%) obviously helped Hanabusa, but she couldn’t overcome the split vote. Democrats took 58.4% of the vote to Djou’s 39.5%. This sets Hanabusa up well for the September primary, and in a one-on-one race against Djou, she’s unlikely to lose. In addition, the DCCC clearly made the right decision not to invest in Case, who finished poorly. In a more normal election, they shouldn’t even have to put in any money, given those numbers.
This does break a long string of Democratic wins in special elections, and does flip a seat to the Republicans, at least temporarily. But Rep. Djou would basically have to switch parties in order to win in November.
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Does it seem like the DNC-picked (or should I say DLC-picked?) establishment candidates have a worse showing with each election? Could we really be seeing the end of the whole “republican-lite” era of Democratic politics? That’ll come none too soon.
Thanks, Ed. Fuck you.
Way to break the Special Election streak, Ed Case.
Democrats were 7-for-7 with Tuesday’s PA-12.
But, no. You couldn’t see the writing on the wall.
Fuck you.
I hope Hawaii sends him to the leper island to live.
RedState?
And if fuck-you’s are in order, I think Rahm should be included.
Good article. It’s not a win for Republicans when they got less than 45% of the overall vote. This coming from a voter here in Hawaii.
Obama’s toxic tide of Bolshevism is far more dangerous than the Gulf oil leak, so any Republican gain is good for the country. Djou, Djou, we need you!
Molokai doesn’t need him.
That would be Kalaupapa on Molokai, Teddy…! ;-)
It should be amusing to see D’jou in DC for the ten months… He fancies himself as a true muckraker…!
I fail to see how continuing to implement the policies of the previous criminal administration qualifies as bolshevism? Are you at all familiar with the tenets of the bolsheviks? Read up on the Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917?
Obama is George W. Bush in blackface, a minstrel show for the entire country to be entertained by as he sets up the destruction of Social Security while trying to make people believe he’s the second coming of Dr. King.
The former middle class people in this country who are losing their jobs and houses would be better served by a real black man in the White House instead of a minion of Goldman Sachs.
Thanks for your feedback.
What’s particularly annoying to me is DCCC’s apparent blindness to facts on the ground in the district; locals knew that Japanese women voters would likely break for Hanabusa, but not show up in polling. DCCC must not have bothered to ask anybody locally about facts like this, simply assuming that throwing money behind Case would be enough to sure a win.
All politics are ultimately local, very important not to forget this.
It’s great to hear from Hawai’i voters here.
This was no GOP victory, this was a DCCC screwup. And because the DCCC encouraged Ed Case, for no apparent reason but the old-boy network, the seven-for-seven Special Election streak is broken. And your state has the possibility of an embarrassment for the next ten months.
I hope you can get things straightened out soon. Good luck for November!
I think some heads should roll at the DCCC for this one; somebody was Ed Case’s buddy on the staff. I wonder if his former staffers from Capitol Hill moved to the DCCC?
This wasn’t just a misread from far-away. It looks deliberate and favoritistic. It should cost someone their job.
You can thank the DCCC and the DNC for this. I thought their job was to elect Democrats but in the Case of Ed Case, who can tell the difference between him and a Republican?
bigbubbabulls is a right wing troll and as such, isn’t interested in facts, history or reality. All of those things have a well known liberal bias.
It’s more likely to cause a promotion. The DNC and the DCCC couldn’t wait to jettison everything that Howard Dean did.
You can thank Rahm/Obama for this one. Reportedly, they pressured Colleen, the progressive, to drop out, but she refused. Case is the DLC, Obama/Rahm approved, Republican lite, “I hate liberals” candidate, approved by Rahm, Obama, and Tim Kaine.
Now in November, a real progressive will win now, much to the chagrin of the Obama White House.
Or they could follow tradition and [Edited by Moderator. Not even rhetorically], along with the DLC idiots who handed a congressional seat to the Repugs.
You thought wrong. Their job is to deny the electorate anything like a real choice beyond what color of tie the candidate is wearing.
Of course I meant that’s what their STATED goal is. Sorry I was unclear.
the beginning of the end to Obummer care. The worst bill in history.
Book Salon up at the Mothership with Malcolm Nance’s An End to al-Qaeda: Destroying Bin Laden’s Jihad and Restoring America’s Honor hosted by Matt Duss
And…Ed Case isn’t going away. He pretty much split the vote with Hanabusa. So, we get a nasty Round 2 Democratic primary in September as Hanabusa and Case continue to beat one anothers’ brains in.
Don’t be so sure about how this one turns out in the end…especially with the national Democratic Party already having backed Case.
Meanwhile…Rep Djou (R-HI) gets to sit back and enjoy the show.
Who’s got the popcorn..?
Did any heads roll at the DSCC for the MA-special? In the MA Dem Party? Accountability free Washington – its like we’ve been transported back 5 years ago and are dealing with the same feckless incompetent machine.