Rivals rush to rallies
| • | Voter's Guide |
By Kevin Dayton and Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
From victory school bus tours to a beach cleanup at Magic Island, Mazie Hirono and Linda Lingle relentlessly pushed their campaigns yesterday in the waning hours of a race for governor that is too close to call.
Hirono started the day's political events at 6:30 a.m. with walks through Waikiki hotels to greet the staff, including members of the hotel workers union, before joining in the downtown opening of the Hawai'i State Art Museum.
In Pearl City, she distributed award certificates at an afternoon luau for the Pearl City High School football team, which was celebrating its first winning season in 16 years.
Coach Onosai Tanuvasa said he had invited her "because Mazie's values and mine are compatible. She believes in family, she believes in 'ohana. Her philosophy of taking care of one another is basically the same as mine with the kids."
The team and family members sang "Happy Birthday" for Hirono, who turned 55 yesterday, and Tanuvasa joked that "she's gonna make a wish, and we know what she's gonna wish."
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
"I'm really upbeat going into the last couple of days," Hirono said. She said phone banks and neighborhood canvassing efforts were in full swing yesterday, "and we have closed the gap."
Celine Nelsen meets Linda Lingle at Kenny's restaurant in Kalihi. From left is Nelsen's husband, Bill, Floyd Niau and Lynette Furumoto.
"Canvassing, phone calls, neighborhood rallies, coffee hours — you name it, I've done it, and now we're down to the last two days."
Hirono clearly appealed to some at the Pearl City luau. Ross Dolfo, whose son is on the Pearl City team, said he would vote her because "she represents more the middle class, what we stand for as far as what we want for our kids and children when they grow up."
Hirono finished the afternoon wearing a campaign T-shirt and rubber gloves at Magic Island, picking up trash with about 50 supporters and greeting beachgoers along the shore.
"I am very convinced it is our grassroots effort and really people to people, the working people coming in, and just regular people saying, OK, we're going to work with Mazie because she's been fighting for us all these years," Hirono said. "It's that kind of an effort that has closed the gap. I'm convinced of that."
Lingle and her running mate, James "Duke" Aiona, spent yesterday traveling around the island on rented school buses with about 200 supporters, waving signs in 10 communities from Nanakuli to Hawai'i Kai.
Republican legislative candidates from various districts joined the Lingle/Aiona crowd along the way.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
After waving signs near Windward City Shopping Center, campaign workers briefly took over a corner of the center parking lot to celebrate and dance to Earth, Wind and Fire's "September" blaring from loudspeakers. Lingle said the campaign had started the day with two buses, and then had to hire two more because there were so many supporters.
Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono was surprised yesterday when Kainoa Cook and the Pearl City football team presented her with a birthday cake.
"We have had a great day," she told the crowd. "It's just getting close. We've got a little more to do — we've got the rest of today, we've got all day tomorrow and all day Tuesday. It's going to go down to the wire. It's going to take all of us giving our best effort, and I can tell you Duke and I are giving every ounce of our strength to the end of this campaign."
Aiona also worked up the crowd, saying: "I can feel it. Can you all feel it? Change is coming."
Earlier yesterday, Robert Webb, a 54-year-old state worker from Salt Lake, watched Lingle and supporters waving signs near the Salt Lake Shopping Center.
"I just feel we need a breath of fresh air," he said of his decision to vote for her. "I welcome change. I'm so disgruntled. If we don't have change, that's it."
Cappy Capelouto of the Hawai'i Corvette Association and other automobile enthusiasts joined Lingle's caravan.
"I feel that it's time to clean house and get the good old boys out of there," he said as he sat in the shopping center lot. "They've been there long enough. Corruption is rampant and it's time to clean it up."
In Kane'ohe, Hawai'i GOP chairman Micah Kane said the race would come down to voter turnout.
"There's still 48 hours left," he said. "A lot can happen in 48 hours. So you just keep pounding the pavement. You gotta go out there and earn it — that's what we gotta do."
