Even in the best of times, being lieutenant governor in Hawai'i can be an uninspiring job.

Still, the post has been used before as a launching pad into the governor's office, and thus a handful of Democrats have established campaign committees to run for the office next year. They had more than $470,000 in their collective war chests as of late June, and three other Democrats also are looking at running.

But only one Republican so far, lawyer Adrienne King, has said she will run for lieutenant governor.

King had raised only $550 as of late June and has held only one fundraiser since then.

Analysts assert that so few Republicans are now willing to run for lieutenant governor because the GOP ticket is likely to face an uphill race next November against one of two strong Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls — U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie or Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann.

"If you had a really strong (GOP) candidate for governor, then the lieutenant governor's spot would look a little better" to prospective contenders, said Rick Castberg, political science professor emeritus at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo. "You'd have more people running for it."

Republican officials say they are not worried and insist more candidates will jump into the race in the coming months. The candidate filing period opens on Feb. 1.

The last time no incumbent ran for governor and lieutenant governor was 2002.

Voters nominated James "Duke" Aiona and he joined GOP gubernatorial nominee Linda Lingle in November 2002 to defeat the Democratic ticket of then-Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono and Matt Matsunaga.

Aiona entered an office with few formal responsibilities.

Apart from taking charge if the governor dies or is incapacitated, the lieutenant governor handles formal name changes and authentication of official documents, plus whatever duties the governor chooses to delegate.

Nonetheless, Aiona hopes to use the post as a springboard into the governor's office. His lone GOP primary rival is attorney John Carroll.

But in the GOP contest for lieutenant governor, for now there's only King. She has held various low-level party posts and unsuccessfully sought a state House seat three times. She likened herself to Aiona, claiming neither are career politicians.

"I bring a totally fresh voice that is looking at things in a new and different way," she said.