Former City Councilman Duke Bainum and state Rep. Kirk Caldwell, D-24th (Manoa), will compete for the council seat vacated yesterday by mayoral contender Ann Kobayashi.

Bainum largely disappeared from the political radar in the Islands after his unsuccessful bid for mayor against Mufi Hannemann four years ago. Though some assumed Bainum had moved to the Mainland, he said yesterday he had always kept Hawai'i as his legal residence but has been "regularly commuting" to Arkansas for family and financial issues.

Bainum filed for Kobayashi's seat yesterday, after Kobayashi told him yesterday morning she would be running for mayor.

"I know the district very well," Bainum said of Kobayashi's vacated seat, which stretches from Kapahulu to Makiki.

Bainum lives at the Marco Polo on Kapi'olani Boulevard, within the District 5 boundaries.

Bainum added that he is in support of "rapid transit if we have the right technology and the right price tag." Of the mass transit proposal being pushed by the city, he said yesterday, "I'm concerned this is not the right technology or the right price tag."

Bainum is a physician who entered Hawai'i politics in the 1980s, with a stint on the McCully-Mo'ili'ili Neighborhood Board. He was elected to the state House in 1990 and re-elected in 1992. In 1994, he was elected to the City Council. During his mayoral race against Hannemann, Bainum was the front-runner until late in the race.

Hannemann won over Bainum by about 1,300 votes.

Caldwell, an attorney and partner at the firm Ashford & Wriston, was first elected to the House in 2002. Caldwell said he started making telephone calls yesterday shortly after learning that Kobayashi would run for mayor.

"For me, the concern was to make sure that whoever ran would really know the community. I feel I really do know that community, very well," said Caldwell, who represents Manoa at the Legislature and used to serve on the Kaimuki Neighborhood Board. "I feel I have a certain connection there."

Caldwell said he filed for the council seat but has until today to withdraw if Democrats do not have a suitable replacement for him in the House.

Chrystn Eads, a staffer for Hannemann and former aide to U.S. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i, quickly filed papers yesterday afternoon as a Democratic candidate for the House. Jerilyn Jeffryes, a community activist, filed as a Republican candidate.

Willes Lee, the state GOP chairman, and other Republicans claimed Eads filed after the 4:30 p.m. deadline and he said the party would likely challenge the filing.

Caldwell, meanwhile, said he has raised about $65,000 for his re-election campaign and plans to transfer that to a council race.

Asked whether the last-minute filings were fair to voters or other potential candidates not in position to act so quickly, Caldwell said: "I do think it's unfortunate that these things happen at the very last minute because it doesn't give adequate opportunity for any number of people to look at that race."

Asked why he jumped in so quickly, Caldwell said: "I think it's all about representing the community well and effectively."

Caldwell's potential departure from the House leaves a hole in state House Speaker Calvin Say's leadership team. Caldwell had already been out campaigning for House candidates and was among the Say loyalists expected to help the speaker turn back a leadership challenge from House dissidents.

As majority leader, Caldwell often spoke for House leadership and he was often responsible for taking the temperature of the Democratic caucus on public-policy issues.

"I'm elated for Kirk," Say, D-20th (St. Louis Heights, Palolo Valley, Wilhelmina Rise), said last night. "As long as his constituency supports him, as far as his decision that he makes, I'm very happy for him."