Four years after sweeping into office on a wave of voter hope for new leadership, Hawai'i's governor has delivered measurable results from her program of change while grasping the breadth of the challenges ahead. It's on the basis of her record and her reasoned outline for a future course that The Honolulu Advertiser endorses Gov. Linda Lingle and Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona for re-election to office.

Through her first term in Hawai'i, Gov. Lingle has proven that a bipartisan meeting of the minds is possible. Hawai'i's Democratic lawmaking branch and its Republican executive have managed to broker some key agreements despite the occasional volleys of party brickbats. That's more than can be claimed on the battlefield in Washington.

Aided by state coffers flush with tax revenues, the state has been able to make inroads on a shortage of affordable housing units and the establishment of a rental housing trust fund. There's been a gratifying show of compassion for those on the bottom rung through efforts to secure more shelter for O'ahu's homeless.

And whatever can be said about the state's gas-cap wrangling, at least the worries over gas prices have moved alternative energy development up on the state agenda. Lingle deserves a lot of credit for seizing the issue and working to promote the use of energy efficiency. That drive must continue through the next four years.

It probably helps Lingle that, as a political moderate, she stands a lot closer to many Democrats on several issues than her GOP party label might suggest — and closer to popular opinion, which has migrated toward the center in recent years.

But it's important to recognize there is still much work to be done.

For example, in the area of public safety, the governor has not settled on solutions beyond using Mainland corrections institutions as a pressure valve to deal with our prison overcrowding problem.

Her opponent, Democrat Randy Iwase, rightly points to the long-term social effects of effectively alienating prisoners from home ties on the Mainland — prisoners who eventually will be released here are far less likely to successfully re-enter society, while the cycle of crime is more likely to extend into their families.

But while the state clearly needs more prison space at home, Lingle still comes closer to a balanced solution with her proposal for more community-based treatment centers than Iwase's concept of a "corrections industry."

On education, there's been progress in the area of restoring local control to schools— one of Lingle's core tenets— in the "Reinventing Education" law also known as Act 51. The implementation of that law is moving in fits and starts, progress that would improve if Lingle could come to terms with the board and the superintendent to work more collaboratively. Less legislative micromanagement of schools would help, too.

Going forward, striking a delicate balance will be key.

We need to guard our precious environment while finding new engines for our economy that can provide well-paying sustainable jobs for our residents. We need ideas from a wide array of sources, and a mix of Democrats and Republicans in leadership positions would best serve the public interest.

In 2006, the Lingle administration is best positioned to further that goal. Let's return them to office, and urge them — and lawmakers — to put the partisan heat on low and the search for solutions on full flame.