EDITORIAL
Mink's health creates a political mystery

The sudden turn for the worse yesterday in U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink's medical condition came as a shock and as a great sadness to everyone in Hawai'i.

Surely, everyone — including even her strongest political opponents — hopes and prays that a recovery remains possible.

But the statement released by the Hawai'i Democratic Party on her behalf was not encouraging. Prospects for a recovery are "poor," the party said, adding that the Mink family assures voters she would not assume office in the next Congress unless she can do so "with her customary vigor."

Effectively, that statement says that it is all but certain that Mink's health will not allow her to serve another term.

This presents a terribly awkward situation for Mink's leading general election opponent, Republican state Rep. Bob McDermott. His campaign was built around his contention that Mink was out of step with her constituents and the state she represents.

He can continue to say those things, but to what avail?

The party says it will continue to vigorously campaign for Mink and what she stands for, even if the congresswoman is unable to do so herself. This presents an interesting set of questions and scenarios that closely link the personal and the political.

The first is a matter of timing. Mink has been in the hospital and seriously ill since well before the primary election. But the admission that she is unlikely to be able to campaign or serve if elected came only after she won her primary and after it was too late for the party to name a replacement candidate. In fact, it came precisely one day after that deadline.

While the party reports that Mink's condition took a sudden turn for the worse yesterday, cynics will inevitably wonder about the timing of all this. A day earlier and the party could have, and would have, appointed an active candidate to face McDermott on the campaign trail and on election day.

Now, that's not possible.

But it should be pointed out that this scenario doesn't automatically work out in the Democratic Party's best interests. That's because if Mink is unable to serve (and assuming she wins the election), a special election would have to be called to fill her vacant seat.

That would be a wild, winner-take-all deal, where someone like McDermott might end up facing a slate of Democrats, each taking votes from each other. Same goes for the Republicans: They might stick with McDermott, or they might turn to any number of Republican bright lights who were unwilling to face senior incumbent Mink in a regular election but might like their chances in a special winner-take-all contest. In this race, people who are incumbents in state or county offices can run without the price of resigning.

The point here is that the Democrats did not necessarily improve their hopes of holding on to the 2nd Congressional District seat by waiting until yesterday to make their grave announcement about Mink's health.

Throughout this unhappy matter, it has been the voters and constituents in Congresswoman Mink's district who have been kept largely in the dark and unable to act.