By Jerry Burris
Advertiser Editorial Editor

As you read this, Gov. Linda Lingle is roughly halfway through her six-day trip to Washington, D.C. — a trip designed to put our tiny island state a bit more prominently on the radar of those inside the beltway.

If she can accomplish that, and get Washington and the Bush administration to recognize Hawai'i and its needs, it will have been a trip well worthwhile.

One gets the feeling that the Bush administration generally looks east rather than west. West, at least metaphorically speaking, stops at the president's Texas ranch.

Lingle, something of a prize to the GOP with her victory over a 40-year old Democratic Party establishment here, should be able to turn some heads in our direction.

Under the Clinton administration, Hawai'i had a fairly prominent place on the radar. Clinton traveled here frequently (for golf, if nothing else) and is well remembered for his "Speech on the Beach" in Waikiki. His political connections were strong, beginning with an early presidential endorsement by former Gov. John Waihee.

The underlying political links that oil a good relationship are not as strong between Lingle and the Bush folks. Building those links will have to be her first order of business.

Being ignored by Washington is, of course, nothing new for Hawai'i. Recently, for example, we witnessed a flurry of wide-eyed chest thumping when someone told Congress that North Korea had missiles that could reach the West Coast. Imagine that! North Korea has missiles that could hit America!

It might have been news to some — but not to Sen. Dan Inouye of Hawai'i and Sen. Ted Stevens from Alaska, who have been warning for some time that the Islands and western Alaska are vulnerable to such an attack.

Hardly anyone listened.

Going back, old-timers might remember the battles waged by the late Gov. John A. Burns to get Hawai'i included in the footprint of the earliest telecommunications satellites. Uncle Sam footed most of the bill for these satellites, on the theory that they would improve vastly communications across the United States.

But early versions of this project did not include Hawai'i. Burns' point (and he was right) was that we are part of the United States and deserve just as much access to this brave new technology as anyone.

Much the same argument is made by Inouye when it comes to defending against missiles. Tiny, isolated Hawai'i is just as deserving of protection as the much bigger Mainland.

And so it will go for Lingle. She has some specific business to do, including lobbying for the Hawaiian recognition bill and meeting with administration and congressional officials.

But her real work will be to put Hawai'i on the map for the politicians and bureaucrats who make so many decisions for us, an ocean and a continent away.

If she accomplishes that, the trip will more than have paid for itself.

And if she gets the chance, she should invite Bush to pay our state a visit.

After all, he likes golf, too.