Even before election returns were final, Case conceded the race, coming up short in his audacious effort to shake up the party, change the established order and bring Hawai'i's Democrats closer to the political middle.

Case said the race was good for the party and good for democracy. And even some of the old-time Democrats who supported Akaka publicly acknowledged privately that Case had his finger on changes in the Hawai'i electorate and within the Democratic Party.

But those changes, or "transition" to use Case's word, are happening slowly. The Hilo-born Case was right, they said, but might have been a little premature in making his move in this election.

Case said he looked at the numbers after the first two printouts and realized he had fallen short of success.

He spoke of the need for party unity and the importance of keeping the Senate seat in Democratic hands this fall. For his part, Akaka spoke of reaching out to his younger colleague and keeping him active within the party. Understandably, Case was unwilling to say much about his own political future other than to insist that he still has congressional work to accomplish.

The 53-year-old Case went into this race against the 82-year-old Akaka knowing it would be an uphill battle. Akaka is well-liked within the party, has years of seniority to his credit and all kinds of institutional and financial backing.

But Case concluded it was important to test his belief that the party and the state had changed and that a more centrist approach would best serve Hawai'i.

Case made no bones about this. His campaign would be a referendum on politics as usual and a test of the changing face of the Hawai'i electorate. His catchword was "transition," but he meant more than transition in the U.S. Senate — he also was talking about transition in the soul of the Democratic Party.

In addition to all the institutional support he enjoyed, Akaka also had the good fortune to be on the right side of what is probably the defining issue in this and many other congressional campaigns: the war in Iraq.

He was an early opponent of the U.S. military action in Iraq and is one of a minority of senators who now calls for a specific date for a pullout.

Case acknowledged the war has not gone well and agrees that the U.S. must get out. But he had a more nuanced position, saying that it would be a disaster to leave precipitously. Akaka's hard-line position on withdrawal is unrealistic and dangerous, Case contended. But this much-more straightforward stance appeared to resonate more clearly with the voters.

Akaka's Iraq stance also drew in liberal Democrats who might otherwise have taken a chance on Case and his message of change and transition within the party. In some ways, the Iraq war played out in this senatorial contest much as it has on the Mainland, where candidates with the strongest anti-war stance tended to prevail.

Case's loss hardly means that he is through with politics or a leadership role within the Democratic Party. For example, his name has already come up in conversations about the 2010 governor's race.

He has told people privately that this bruising campaign has soured him and if he loses he might just decide to go on with the rest of his life out of politics. But if a significant seat opens up, either locally or particularly in Washington, it is hard to imagine Case not being in the hunt.

In the meantime, he will simply have to wait for the party and the electorate it represents to catch up with him and the moderate, independent position he has staked out for himself.