Over the years many have tried to figure out what exactly is it that made the Hawaii Democratic Party so successful.

A good cause: Statehood and then all he economic and social gains that followed certainly helped. So too did the eager and generally faithful backing of the major labor unions.

But a key part, as any longtime Democrat will tell you, was the ability to identify, activate and then motivate the grass roots. Veteran political organizer Bob Oshiro called them the “sparrows” who would sit unnoticed until around election time when they would rise all at once.

But every sparrow needs a mother hen. The most formidable of all, perhaps, was Naomi “Sister” Correa, who died last week at 80. Correa knew how to play politics at just about every level (she served as party vice-chair for years), but her real skill was in making the regular folks, the sparrows, feel they were an important part of a campaign.

She could throw together a mean batch of stew and rice if needed, and that was a skill not to be lightly discounted. But Correa was able, by example and passion, to show everyone in a campaign just how important it was to get the daily, difficult “grunt” work done, and done well.

Sister was not in it for herself. She was in politics because she believed in it. She represented the human core that every campaign needs if it hopes to be successful.

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