Vice President Dick Cheney greets well-wishers at the Hawai'i Convention Center last night following his speech. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

The rally was the climax of an unprecedented focus on Hawai'i before a presidential election, with Republicans and Democrats sending high-level figures over the weekend to influence voters and capture the state's four electoral votes.

Hawai'i voters have chosen Republican presidential candidates only twice since statehood, but after state polls indicated the race here could be close, both parties added Hawai'i to the dozen or so states that could tip the election. The last national USA Today-CNN-Gallup Poll had Bush slightly ahead of Sen. John Kerry for the popular vote and the two tied after projecting how undecided voters would choose.

With a lei draped over his sport coat and his wife, Lynne, and Gov. Linda Lingle standing nearby, Cheney said Bush has shown the strength and leadership the nation needs to win the war on terrorism.

"We are standing just a few miles from Pearl Harbor, the site of a sudden attack ... Three years ago, America faced another sudden attack," Cheney told a crowd later estimated by local GOP officials at more than 7,000.

Cheney said that "the clearest, most important difference in this campaign is simple to state: President Bush understands the war on terror and has a strategy for winning it. John Kerry does not."

Although the crowd was partisan, Cheney, recognizing Hawai'i's Democratic history, reached out to undecided voters. "It doesn't matter which party you belong to or who you have voted for in the past, we're asking for your support," he said.

Earlier yesterday, Sen. John Edwards, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, sharply criticized Cheney and Bush and said the Democrats have a better vision on healthcare and education for Hawai'i voters.

"The vice president, first, is part of the first administration in over 70 years to lose jobs for America," the North Carolina Democrat told The Advertiser in a telephone interview from Columbus, Ohio. "Second, he has consistently sided with big drug companies, big insurance companies, big HMOs, against the interests of the people of Hawai'i. And that's one of the reasons healthcare costs have skyrocketed and so many people have lost their healthcare coverage.

"It's basically an issue of whose side are you on."

Hawaiian issues noted

Edwards repeated his and Kerry's support for a Native Hawaiian federal recognition bill that has been held up in Congress since 2000. The bill would recognize Hawaiians as an indigenous people, similar to American Indians and Native Alaskans, and would establish a process for Hawaiian sovereignty.

The Bush administration has not taken a position on the bill, and several Republicans in Congress believe it would give special preferences to people based on their race.

"Both of us believe that it's important to preserve the culture and the language of Native Hawaiians," Edwards said. "We believe in the right for self-determination. There is a unique language and culture that it's important that it be recognized.

"The bottom line is we support it because we believe it's the right thing to do."

Miriam Hellreich, a GOP national committeewoman from Hawai'i, said she senses the same spirit and optimism among Republicans as she did in 1984 when Ronald Reagan won Hawai'i as part of a national landslide. The only other Republican presidential candidate to win Hawai'i was Richard Nixon in 1972. Nixon campaigned in the Islands in 1960, when he narrowly lost to John F. Kennedy.

Cheney's visit is a coup for Lingle, who is getting national attention for her popularity in what has been thought of as a solidly Democratic state.

"I think it's going to mean a lot to the people of Hawai'i that he cares enough about us to come here," Hellreich said. "It's definitely going to motivate a lot of people who are undecided. This time, their vote counts."

While the Hawai'i polls caught many by surprise, several state and national political operatives said they had been detecting a close race from internal polls over the past few months.

Neil Newhouse, a national Republican strategist who did polling in urban Honolulu in mid-September for Republican congressional candidate Dalton Tanonaka, believes Bush has the edge. "It's apparent that the intervening six weeks have done little to convince Hawai'i voters otherwise," he said. "Simply put, John Kerry has failed to make his case to the state's voters."

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i, who campaigned for Kerry this past weekend on O'ahu and Maui and will be on the Big Island today, said he believes Kerry has the momentum. He said the close polls may have inspired Democrats. "It sometimes helps," the senator said. "It really fires up your people."

Cheney's appearance followed a Democratic rally on Friday night at Farrington High School with former Vice President Al Gore and Kerry's oldest daughter, Alexandra. Kerry and former President Bill Clinton did telephone interviews with Hawai'i television stations last week, and national Democrats poured more than $200,000 in advertising into the state over the past several days.

Last stop in a long day

Cheney stepped off his plane at Hickam Air Force Base last night at 10:30 p.m. It was the day's final stop after campaign appearances in Ohio, Michigan, Iowa and New Mexico. He was flying to Colorado right after the Honolulu appearance.

Lingle and Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona greeted the vice president and his wife at the air base.

Waiting for them across the street from the convention center were about 200 protesters, some dressed in costumes such as the Grim Reaper and Darth Vader.

They carried anti-Bush and anti-Cheney signs and chanted, "Go home Cheney," as the vice president's motorcade rolled up to the convention center. Security removed a few Cheney hecklers who managed to get inside and shout taunts at the vice president from near the back of the crowd.

Republican volunteers decorated the convention center with faux palm trees and rainbow-colored and red-white-and-blue balloons. A conch blower and fire dancers preceded Lingle, Aiona and the Cheney's to the stage shortly after 11 p.m. Several people said Lingle's ties to the president paid off at a critical time.

"I really like the connection there. It's good for our state," said Boxley Diggs, a retired Air Force veteran who lives in Mililani.

Katie Wida, a gymnastics coach from Makaha, wants to believe that Bush has a real chance in Hawai'i tomorrow. "It's so close," Wida said. "I can't imagine anyone being undecided right now."

Afterward, Lingle and Aiona told reporters that the event symbolized how much the Hawai'i Republican Party had grown, drawing thousands to a rally late on a Halloween Sunday.

"This obviously energizes the base," Lingle said. "They are going to go out now and work in these last hours in a way they probably would have not had the vice president not come out, had they not shown that attention to our state.

"I think people here now feel a responsibility to live up to the expectations that we have and I think it's going to show on Election Day with a good turnout."