Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann has raised close to $2.5 million for his political campaign treasury, and he has no real place to spend it.

At the moment, there is no sign of an experienced or well-financed candidate to challenge Hannemann in his re-election campaign this year. That does not leave the mayor without political battles to be fought. In fact, he's facing one of the biggest political fights of his career: The decision about mass transit for Honolulu.

Hannemann has brought the dream of a fixed-rail system for Honolulu closer to reality than it has ever been. But he isn't quite there yet.

A divided City Council could still put a hitch in the plans, even though it is officially on record in support of transit. If this or a future Council gets cold feet before tracks are laid and trains are running, the project could get sidetracked. Delay is almost as dangerous as outright opposition at this delicate point.

And now Hannemann has to deal with a determined bunch of anti-rail folks who have rallied, under various names, to stop the project.

A petition drive is under way by a group called Stop Rail Now (stoprailnow.com) to put a question on the ballot this fall: "Honolulu mass transit shall not include trains or rail transit." If that question gets to a vote and is approved, the project is dead.

No wonder Hannemann is not sitting back and enjoying the thought of a relatively easy re-election campaign. The whole thing would be ashes if he is returned to office but voters reject his dream rail project.

The counterattack to the rail opponents has become a very expensive proposition. Hannemann has already run big newspaper ads, paid out of his own campaign funds, that harshly attack the anti-rail folks as a deceptive group using "smoke and mirrors" to deceive the public. Expect more of these.

Others, including the Carpenters Union, which paid for its own series of pro-transit ads, have joined the counterattack. The union's interest, beyond its support for Hannemann, is obvious.

And a new group organized by McNeil-Wilson Communications, a veteran public relations firm that has done considerable political work, has also entered the transit battle.

This group (supportrail transit.com) is funded by a number of as-yet-unnamed pro-rail groups and individuals in the community.

It's shaping up to be a very expensive, probably multimillion-dollar battle over an issue that supposedly was already settled by the elected members of the Council, the state Legislature and even Congress.

It's a taste, and a prophetic one, of what we will see if backers of a California-like initiative process ever see their ideas implemented in Hawai'i.

Jerry Burris' column appears Wednesdays in this space. See his blog at http://blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com.

Jerry Burris' column appears Wednesdays in this space. See his blog at blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com/akamaipolitics. Reach him at jrryburris@yahoo.com.