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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, September 8, 2002

Lingle's 'battleship' on cruise control

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Republican Party faithful, the newly converted and the simply curious filed into the Lanakila Elementary School cafeteria on a warm night last week and greeted each of the Republican candidates with spirited applause. But it was just a warmup for the final speaker of the night.

And Linda Lingle was ready to deliver.

She sat on a school lunch bench near the front of the stage wearing a smile through yet another long day, during yet another long week of a campaign for Hawai'i governor that has lasted, essentially, for more than four years.

The mauka end of Kalihi — "right here in the middle of Democrat Country," as one Republican official told the crowd — was an unlikely place to hold a candidate forum for Republicans. But Lingle still packed them in.

It was the same wherever she showed up last week, whether at Rotary Club meetings, businesses, school cafeterias or the Gay & Lesbian Community Center.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Linda Lingle is at ease meeting supporters at a fund-raiser in Kane'ohe.

Associated Press

While the three Democratic candidates for governor have spent the summer scrambling for money and struggling to define themselves to voters, Lingle has been working the campaign trail seven days a week, perfecting a message and a pitch that will be put to the real test after the primary.

Ira Rohter, an associate political science professor at the University of Hawai'i, said he sees the Lingle campaign as an armor-plated, well-armed battleship that's humming along in calm seas. Its crew, Rohter said, is disciplined enough not to make waves or fire the big guns in haste.

"A bunch of little boats are trying to attack her," Rohter said. "But the battleship Lingle is sailing very smoothly. Battleships are stately, they're invincible in a way. That's the Lingle campaign at this point."

Lingle has run her campaign so consistently that the race for governor, so far, borders on boring, said Jon Goldberg-Hiller, another UH associate political science professor.

"It's dull," Goldberg-Hiller said. "She's adopted boilerplate advice: Don't say anything. You're only going to hurt yourself, which goes to show the poverty of our political situation."

But Lingle says plenty.

She pounds away at simple themes — that the Democratic-controlled government is running an inefficient, unfriendly and sometimes corrupt system. It not only wastes money, Lingle says, but defies common sense and puts education and often people's livelihoods in jeopardy.

Lingle repeatedly asks audiences to read her glossy booklet that outlines in sometimes specific, sometimes vague, details how she plans to run Hawai'i's government.

Her main themes are that a Lingle administration will restore trust in government, improve Hawai'i's schools and expand and diversify the economy. She refers to her eight-year record as Maui mayor. Lingle emphasizes that none of the three Democratic candidates has ever served as the head of a county or state government or had to write a budget.

The messages resonate with Republicans and Democrats, especially the ones who Lingle says are tired of the current political climate that has resulted in abuses and even prison time for elected officials.

Things are going so well, that Lingle has an enviable problem.

"It makes me cautious not to be overconfident," Lingle said from her headquarters on Ala Moana.

Earlier in the day in Republican-friendly territory at the Mid-Pacific Country Club in Lanikai, Lingle received a pointed comment.

Pohai Ryan described herself as an "undecided Democrat," who said Lingle could sway people like herself if she would only debate the three Democratic candidates, Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, Rep. Ed Case and former Republican state Sen. D.G. "Andy" Anderson.

Lingle's response addressed the reality of her situation.

"The only reason they want me there, No. 1 is because they can't draw a crowd without me being there," Lingle said. "...The second reason they want me there is that then it'll be three against one. But they're not running against me. They're running against each other."

After the Sept. 21 primary, Lingle told the audience, she already has accepted 13 invitations to debate the Democratic candidate.

For now, Rohter is impressed with how things have gone Lingle's way — in both the overarching message to voters and in the tiny details.

Rohter, who is also the co-chairman of the Hawai'i Green Party, ordered one of Lingle's booklets — "A New Beginning for Hawai'i — through Lingle's Web site.

The booklet arrived in Rohter's mailbox the next day.

"If that's an example of how her campaign is run," Rohter said, "it's efficient as hell."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.