Sen. Daniel Akaka, the long-serving Democrat from Hawaii, annnounced that he would not run for re-election in 2012.
“After months of thinking about my political future, I am announcing today that I have decided not to run for re-election in 2012,” he said in a statement. “As many of you can imagine, it was a very difficult decision for me. However, I feel that the end of this Congress is the right time for me to step aside.” [...]
“Millie and I will return to Hawaii at the end of this Congress and spend time with our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren,” he added. “I would also like to spend time documenting my life and career, and serving as a mentor to future political leaders. I have always strived to serve the people with much love and aloha, never forgetting my humble beginnings, and it is my hope that they, too, will continue this tradition.”
Obama is more popular than Justin Bieber in Hawaii, and he’ll be at the top of the ticket in 2012. As a result, even if moderately popular former Republican Governor Linda Lingle runs, I don’t see her being able to beat any generic Democrat in this race.
As far as who that Democrat would be, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser says that there are six possibilities.
Inouye first named newly elected Democratic Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa, then Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz, U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono, Gov. Neil Abercrombie and former Honolulu mayor Mufi Hannemann. Upon prompting from reporters, Inouye added former U.S. Rep. Ed Case to the list and tossed in Tammy Duckworth, Veterans Affairs Department assistant secretary, a one-time Honolulu resident.
Democratic politicians and veteran political operators yesterday quickly culled Abercrombie, who has said serving as governor would be his last public office, and Duckworth, who in 2006 ran unsuccessfully for Congress in Illinois. She is a political unknown in Hawaii.
I think Hirono, a pretty solid progressive, would be great. Ed Case would most certainly not, and he showed in that special election last year that he would have trouble against any Democrat that Inouye supported. The Tammy Duckworth rumor is kind of hilarious. Who planted that, @MayorEmanuel?
There are drawbacks to all these candidates – I didn’t realize Hirono lost to Lingle for Governor back in 2002 – but Obama’s place atop the ballot is the wild-card here.
On another note, this is yet another Senate retirement. The turnover in the upper house has been remarkable over the past three cycles, and that continues here. Already we’ve had seven retirements and it’s March 2011 – Lieberman, Conrad, Hutchison, Bingaman, Webb, Kyl and now Akaka. Only 33 seats are up for grabs in 2012. 1 in 6 will be open seats.
UPDATE: More from David Nir.
