Ambercrombie trounces Hannemann

Former U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie rolled to victory last night in the Democratic primary for governor as voters eagerly embraced his call for change.

Abercrombie portrayed former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann as the candidate of the status quo and the establishment. He ran as an insurgent against a man who secured many of the most coveted endorsements from business and from public- and private-sector labor unions.

"And now, in 2010, a new wave of hope and change is coming to Hawaii and it starts tonight," said Abercrombie, who was joined on stage by Brian Schatz, the former Democratic Party of Hawaii chairman and state lawmaker who claimed the party's nomination for lieutenant governor.

Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona easily captured the Republican primary for governor and will face Abercrombie in the November general election. State House Minority Leader Lynn Finnegan took the GOP primary for lieutenant governor.

Many voters who said they preferred Abercrombie, when asked to explain their vote, said it stemmed from their dislike of Hannemann.

"He lost me even before rail," said Maria Phillips, a nurse. "But when he said, 'You're going to get rail whether you like it or not,' Well ... he's always been the bully type."

The two Democrats both gave up elected positions for a shot at Washington Place: Abercrombie resigned early from his urban Honolulu seat in Congress; Hannemann stepped away from his final two years as mayor.

With little to separate them on public-policy issues -- their most substantive difference was over civil unions -- they made the primary about leadership ability. Abercrombie said he would be an agent of change against the status quo; Hannemann said he would be a consensus builder who could get things done.

Abercrombie and Hannemann had a strained personal history after a nasty 1986 primary and special election for Congress during which Hannemann knocked Abercrombie as soft on drugs. Hannemann won the primary and Abercrombie took the special election, but disappointed voters turned to Republican Pat Saiki in the general election.

While the primary between the two Democrats this year never turned as negative, voters showed no tolerance when Hannemann and his surrogates, even subtly, tried to contrast his personal background, education, ethnicity and religion with Abercrombie.

Hannemann's wounds were self-inflicted. In July, speaking to the Hawaii Carpenters Union, the former mayor, who is of Samoan and German descent, said the carpenters deserved a candidate they could personally relate to and told them, "I look like you, you look like me."

In August, the Hannemann campaign mailed a "Compare and Decide" brochure statewide that asked voters to compare where the candidates were born, their wives and their education. The brochure also mocked Abercrombie's accomplishments and noted he once won first place in the Lahaina Whaling Days beard contest.

Critics said the brochure, combined with Hannemann's carpenters union speech, was a ham-handed attempt to insert localism and identity politics into the campaign. Hannemann was born in Honolulu, has a Japanese-American wife, and graduated from Harvard University. Abercrombie was born in Buffalo, N.Y., has a haole wife and graduated from Union College in New York and the University of Hawaii-Manoa.

Hannemann defended the brochure as factual but apologized at the start of the first televised debate if the mailer offended anyone.

In late August and early September, Island Values, a Christian group with ties to the Hannemann campaign, released a radio advertisement and flier that described Abercrombie as "unacceptable" to Christians because of his voting record in Congress and the fact he had declined to state a religion in congressional biographies. Abercrombie, questioned by the news media, said he is a confirmed Episcopalian.

Hannemann, a Mormon, disavowed the ad and the flier and urged his supporters not to distribute the information.