EDITORIAL
Wide-open primary will benefit Democrats

As senior Sen. Dan Inouye told them at their convention yesterday, Hawai'i Democrats should spend no time lamenting the departure from the gubernatorial race of their apparent front-runner, Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris.

Speculation will persist, of course, as to what caused Harris to pull the plug. It's unlikely that many of those who pay attention to such things will accept that the only reasons Harris pulled out of the race are the ones he offered: that he was trailing Republican candidate Linda Lingle, and that City Hall, at this critical juncture, needs him.

Actually it was the "City Hall needs me" explanation that Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono offered when she switched from the governor's race to the mayor's race. Now that City Hall no longer needs her, with Harris back in the saddle, she's running for governor again.

What many people believe, despite the denials of both Hirono and Harris, is that some unnamed gray eminence at the apex of the party hierarchy was dictating these moves.

This is no time, however, for Democrats who would like to keep control of Washington Place and all its implied patronage to dwell on such questions. The party is in serious trouble, Inouye told them yesterday, not only because of those "few Democrats who have fallen with the weight of self-interest or stupidity," or the "distorted sense of invincibility" that comes from "complacency and arrogance," but also because of "our own backbiting and internal skirmishes."

That would include bickering and finger-pointing over what happened to Harris, of course. The explanation offered by Inouye himself is that "Jeremy was honest with himself, his supporters and his party that he no longer had the passion or fire for the battle."

If that's the case, people should blame Harris if they need someone to blame, and not party elders.

And, if you accept that Inouye speaks for those elders, it's now clear that they are committed to leave it to the primary process to select the party's gubernatorial torch-bearer:

"Unlike the Republican Party," he said, "we Democrats have gubernatorial candidates who will provide the voters with a choice. And there may be additional hopefuls who may now enter the race.

"That is the Democratic way. We have depth on our bench and a big tent to welcome all comers. Whoever is victorious on primary night is my choice — is our choice, because the people will have spoken."

Inouye is entirely right, of course, to leave the selection of the party's next standard-bearer to Democratic voters. Had the party stage-managed an ordination of the leadership's favorite at the convention, with the other candidates being elbowed out of the way, horrific apathy would have been the result.

What Democrats need are the publicity and interest that a healthy, vigorous, clean, issue-oriented campaign between a slate of candidates with clearly enunciated differences will generate.

Hawai'i badly needs a leader with a message that resonates with a positive, doable agenda. If that leader is to be a Democrat, then let the Democratic voters choose him or her.

So Inouye is right. This is no time to look back on the painful decisions that litter a political party's past, but to look to its future. "This," said Inouye, "is truly how we keep the passion and hope alive."