So, you ask: Why does senior Hawai'i Sen. Daniel K. Inouye need to raise a ton of money to set up for his re-election campaign next year?

The answer is simple. Nothing is certain in the realm of politics. It would seem that Inouye is more than certain to win again next year. And chances are he will. He is at the apex of a senatorial career that puts him at the controls of the Senate Appropriations Committee. To the uninitiated, that means Inouye is at the very center of deciding where Uncle Sam spends his money and on whom — or what — as the case may be.

That, by itself, should be golden. But there are several issues clouding the horizon for Inouye and the folks who support him. That helps explain why he wants to raise a big pot of dough right now, long before the campaign becomes active.

As reported by The Advertiser's Derrick DePledge, Inouye hauled in more than a million bucks at a Royal Hawaiian Hotel event last week. That's likely a record for a local political fundraiser. While many in Honolulu are more than willing to shell out $2,000-plus per ticket to help their senior senator, the success of the event was also the result of a full-court press by his supporters, who burned up the telephone lines to fill the ballroom.

Why are they concerned?

First, as Inouye will be quick to acknowledge, whoever runs against him will focus on the issue of age. The senator will be 86 not long before next year's election, and it will not take a very clever advertising guy to figure out that some gentle reminders about age might shift the minds of some voters. Nothing to do about that, but it takes money to put out counter-advertising that explains with age comes experience, wisdom and seniority.

Next, there is the issue of the unexpected. You don't get to where Inouye is without having someone deciding, perhaps simply because it appeals, to take a big dog down. And Inouye makes a fine target. The lesson is not lost in Inouye's camp about the experience of his good friend, Ted Stevens, who was the subject of an FBI probe and who lost a bid for re-election while the case was ongoing. (The case was later dismissed.)

Not that the Inouye camp expects any legal trouble to emerge during the campaign, but the point is that if something does come up, it is important to have the resources to fight back.

A third reason for big-time fundraising is that while he might look almost certain to win re-election at home, his prominence as chairman of the Appropriations Committee means he quite likely could become a target of national political action committees and organizations who would love to take down — or at least weaken — a prominent liberal Democrat.

Finally, Inouye is raising money to clear the field ahead of time. If anyone has the nerve to take on Inouye — and surely someone will — the fact that he has already packed in millions will serve as a serious discouragement to the rational opposition.

There's no doubt that Inouye has his vulnerabilities. It would be impossible not to have collected some baggage after 50-plus years of public service. From here he may look invincible, but in politics, you can never be too careful.