Update (Monday):Sen Dan Akaka has emerged from his polite reticence to announce he, too, is endorsing Hawaii-born Barak Obama for president. He made the announcement Monday, which means all four high-profile elected superdelegates from Hawaii have made their choice. Three are for Obama while one, Sen, Daniel Inouye, remains loyal to Hillary Clinton.

Akaka said he is convinced Obama is the man to end the “plague” of partisan politics in America.

Also, while it didn’t make as big a news splash, Obama gained yet another superdelegate from Hawaii Monday when National Committeewoman Dolly Strazar also announced her vote for Obama. In a statement, Strazar said that while she held out on an uncommited stance as long as she could, he concluded it was time for the party to “pull together behind a single candidate.”

Strazar said she also likes the fact that Obama, who grew up in the Islands, instinctively knows the importance of “getting along” in a multicultural setting.These have been stressful days for Strazar, who has been fielding regular calls from both the Obama and Clinton camps as they scoured the nation for superdelegate votes.

Here’s what we said earlier on the superdelegate hunt in Hawaii:So now there is just one:Hawaii Congresswoman Mazie Hirono has announced she will pledge her “superdelegate” vote for Barak Obama at the National Democratic Convention.

Hirono became oart of a surging tide of party leader superdelegates who are joining the Obama bandwagon as his nomination appears more and more certain. Hirono cited Obama’s performance in the primaries, which is a reason she might have waited until now, as well as his ties and understanding of Hawaii, which is a reason that should have been obvious from the beginning.

With Senior Sen. Daniel Inouye still behind Hillary Clinton and Hirono’s colleague, Rep. Neil Abercrombie long aboard with Obama, this leaves Sen. Dan Akaka as the lone holdout among top elected officials from Hawaii.

Akaka’s problem, one suspects, is his reluctance to choose between two senatorial colleagues. It is Akaka’s style to get along, not to choose sides. Akaka is also obviously is reluctant to take a stand that differs from Inouye. Why give folks a reason to gossip about a split between the two Hawaii senators when there is no need?

Akaka may join the Obama parade soon enough. But he might well wait for Inouye. And Inouye will not abandon Clinton until the day she formally gives up the campaign. That’s not likely to happen until the last primary has run its course.

Tags: Akaka, burris, Hirono, Inouye, Obama, Strazar

This entry was posted on Monday, May 12th, 2008 at 12:40 pm and is filed under Akamai politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.