By Jerry Burris

What in the world has happened to "The People's Republic of Hawai'i," as Forbes magazine so vividly called it? What has happened to that state mired in a "half-baked form of socialism" and run by an "oligarchic government and its union bosses"?

What has happened to a state famous for being congenitally unable to accept any kind of leadership that wasn't left and liberal?

Gone. All pau. At least that's what you'd think, based on the lineup for this year's campaign for governor.

Think about it: The five "leading" candidates at this point are two Democrats whose budget-cutting, union-battling positions would have made them fine Republican candidates in almost any other year, and . . . three former Republican Party state chairmen.

What we don't know and cannot know until the campaign is over is whether this is simply a matter of self-selection or if it is truly a reflection of a changing tide within the electorate.

The only candidate for governor who might have met Forbes' rather simplistic test of being part of that old union-backed oligarchy was Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, running for mayor. She is a supporter of the unions, particularly public worker unions, and she is a firm believer in the power of government to do good and right wrongs. But she's not running for governor.

Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris is. Harris is anything but a big spender of the public's tax dollars. He has stood up to the unions and has fought for privatization of some government services. It adds up to the kind of candidate who could well be one of those moderate, Lindsey-Rockefeller Republicans in another setting. He appeals to culturally conservative voters.

Then there's state Rep. Ed Case. Even more than Harris, he is a proponent of downsizing government and shifting services out of the public sector and into private hands. On social and cultural issues, he is relatively liberal, but he comes across as anything but the typical picture of a union-following, big-spending Democrat.

Then you have the three former heads of the Hawai'i GOP:

Linda Lingle is a social moderate but asserts that she is a strong supporter of the basic GOP creed of supporting business, holding back government taxes and regulation and opening the economy.

John Carroll, a former state legislator as well as former state chairman, is a social conservative and believer in free-market solutions to the state's problems.

Andy Anderson is now a Democrat but he continues to maintain his belief in the power of the "business community" to make things work. Among the three old GOP chiefs, he is probably the most comfortable with the public sector unions and, oddly enough, has come up with the most "socialistic" campaign idea thus far: a state-backed gasoline company to compete with the private oil firms in the Islands.

Now, none of the Republican candidates would be comfortable before a crowd of backers of, say, John Ashcroft or Newt Gingrich. But by the same token, don't expect any of them to be invited to be an admired guest speaker before — say — the Americans for Democratic Action any time soon.

Reach Jerry Burris through letters@honoluluadvertiser.com.