Hirono surging in Hawaii

After trailing badly for most of the Summer, Dem guv candidate has pulled statistically even with GOP candidate Linda Lingle.

Hirono's late surge comes despite being outspent 3-1 ($4.2 million to $1.7 million) by Lingle. Taking a look at the three polls conducted by Ward Research, it's clear Hawaii's heavily Democratic electorate is coming home after flirting with the Republican Lingle.

October 19-23
Hirono 40
Lingle 44

September 23-26
Hirono 39
Lingle 47

June 3-6 
Hirono 32
Lingle 47

No doubt this is one of the most endangered Dem guv seats, and Hirono must contend with baggage from the previous Democratic administration (in which she was Lt. Governor).

But by no means does the GOP have it in the bag. And it's not a good sign for Lingle to see the race tightening to a dead heat after heavily outspending Hirono in the race. Perhaps sensing a loss of momentum, Lingle took an aggressive approach to last night's one and only debate between the candidates:

Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono scored a few points, but Republican Linda Lingle grabbed almost all of the momentum last night as she beamed for the camera before launching one attack after another on the failings of the Hawai'i Democrats.

Appearing relaxed and at ease, Lingle at times baldly disregarded the questions she was asked and used the time to again hammer home her message that the Democrats failed to fix the public schools, failed to fix the economy and have grown complacent and corrupt.

Hirono took a much less confrontational approach in the debate, trying to appear more "gubernatorial". Whether the debate changed any minds remains to be seen, but this is no longer the sure GOP pickup it once was.

Posted October 26, 2002 09:40 AM | Comments (14)