But if the political races are low-key, there’s a chance the public will get energized by two non-personality matters which might be on the ballot. The first is a proposal for a Constitutional Convention, which will sharply pit the force that like things the way they are verus folks who think nothing will change around here unless the rules themselves (the Constituton) is changed.

The other is the possibility that rail transit will be on the ballot in Honolulu. If the initiative fails for legal reasons, it will still be the dominant question through the candidacy of UH Professor Panos Prevedouros, whose campaign is a surrogate for the anti-rail people.

And finally, if that’s not enough, local folks will be more than normally energized by a presidential campaign between a ar hero with Hawaii ties, John MCain and a Hawaii born kamaaina, Barack Obama.

Are you going to get involved?

OHA was set up by the people of Hawaii to work for the “betterment” of Hawaiians after the 1978 Constitutional Convention. While some convention delegates and some voters may have had an independent Hawaiian political entity in mind, most folks were looking at a somewhat narrower picture. The idea was to create a dedicated agency that had the best interests of Hawaiians at heart and would do what it could to lift up a group of people who had among the worse social indicators (education, poverty, incarceration, health) in their native state.

Now it may be the surest way to cure those ills is to create an independent Hawaiian nation, which then could negotiate directly with the state and the federal government for what it believes is needed. That’s a political solution.

The other programs OHA is involved in seek to achieve the goal of bettering the condition of Hawaiians through functional means: Business grants, education, social services and the like.

If OHA is going to focus on a political solution, it needs to have a greater conversation with the rest of the state and its citizens about this approach. After all, everyone has a stake in the tax dollars and ceded lands money that is being spent on this important cause.

Commentators say he is emulating John Kennedy, who also packed a stadium for his acceptance speech in Los Angeles in 1960. That’s probably the case. Or maybe its because Obama has been drawing such huge crowds recently that his team realized they had a magnificent photo op on their hands if they played it right.

Or maybe it’s because Obama remembers a bit of Hawaii political history from the time he was a high school student and the 1978 campaign for governor was underway. The Democratic Primary featuring a head-to-head battle between George Ariyoshi (who won) and Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi.

A highlight of that campaign was the audacious decision by campaign strategist Bob Oshiro to hold a late-primary rally at Aloha Stadium, which can seat 50,000 people. This was a high-stakes gamble, not least because of the logistics involved. But what if the event didn’t draw a full crowd? Ariyoshi would have looked mighty lonely speaking to a half-empty stadium.

As it turned out, the lure of free bento box lunches for 50,000 (prepared by volunteers) plus an unparalleled lineup of entertainment arranged by Larry Mehau made the event a huge success. It was the largest political gathering ever in Hawaii and it hasn’t been duplicated since.

Now, if Obama decides he can make time to come home to Hawaii (and who knows?) might we see a repeat of history being made with another rally at the Stadium, this time not for governor, but for a presidential candidate? Hmmmm?

Lingle said it is purely a matter of her belief that the people have a right to decide matters of this importance. But the plain fact is that if the proposed rail referendum gets on the ballot and if it is passed rail is dead — at least in its present incarnation.

So the signal is that the governor of this state willing to accept — if not fully endorse — the idea that transit may die once more.

All this has mightily upset Mayor Mufi Hannemann, who thought the governor was on board the transit train. As far back as 2003 Lingle was talking about a multi-billion dollar light rail system for Oahu, in cooperation with the City. The big project, much like the one now being proposed, would demand a tax increase, Lingle said at the time.

And in 2005, she made a point of noting in her State of the State speech that both she and the mayor were “supporters” of mass transit on Oahu.

The let-the-people-speak idea is fine, but it must face the fact that the people’s representatives, including the Honolulu City Council, the state legislature and Congress have all said OK to this project. Even Lingle is aboard in the sense that she allowed the critical county-option excise tax hike become law, although it must be admitted that she never was that keen on the idea.

It may be that with the economy in a slump, the prospect of spending billions of dollars on a project that, at best, would serve people long into the future is more than the governor can comfortably accept. Cynics might also point out that as long as the anti-rail campaign is alive, Hannemann will be kept busy spending money and time defending the plan. That’s money and time he might otherwise bank against a possible future political race in which, among others, Lingle might be an opponent.

As Gordon Pang reports, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has hired a former Senator and prominent Native American, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, to lobby the bill among his former Republican colleagues on the Hill It’s a smart strategy, particularly since one of the fields of objection to the Akaka Bill in the past revolved around threats to limited resources already committed to Native American groups . That concern has supposedly been written out of the latest draft of the bill, but some lawmakers with strong Indian constituencies might still have concerns. Campbell will help alleviate those worries.

Less clear is OHA’s belief that they need to push hard now, to get the measure before President Bush before the end of the year, and the end of Bush’s term. It’s true that if the bill does not pass Congress this year, supporters will have to start from scratch in the House and Senate next year. No fun at all.

But going ahead this year is almost certain to generate a Bush veto and put the whole matter on a much higher plane of public attention. Senators who might have let the bill through through as a matter of courtesy for their colleagues could be much more gun shy if the whole world was watching in the context of a veto fight.

Some think the grinding work of starting from scratch next year might be a better course, since the next President, whoever he is, is likely to be more open to the Akaka bill than has the adamantly opposed Bush. Democrat Barack Obama is solidly in support and Republican John McCain, while perhaps not so enthusiastic, has given his vote to the cause in the past.

Is this a case of one bird in the Bush or two (possibly) in the hand?

We expect our elected leaders to stay around forever, and generally they do. Were it not for term limits, office-holders in Hawaii likely could hold on to their post for life, or at least until they decide to volunarily give it up. That’s certainly true in Congress, where no full-term incumbent has ever been turned out of office through election. In fact, the only transitions in Congress were when a member left voluntarily (Oren Long, Patsy Mink, Cec Heftel) for retirement or to seek another office) or through death, which was the case when Sen. Spark Matsunaga and Rep. Patsy Mink died in office.

We sometimes look down on other countries with their “presidents-for-life” and dynastic politics. But in our own way, we have the same system here. Is it just human nature to want to hold on to what we know, including elected politicians?

Hawaii Congresswoman Mazie Hirono reports that the emotional service concluded with a playing of Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s ukulele version of “Over the Rainbow.”

As the song played, she said, an unusual double rainbow appeared over Washington to the astonishment of  just about everyone.  Hirono said the double rainbow, familiar to folks in Hawaii, is just never seen in the Nation’s Capital.

After the service, Hirono said, people came up to her to talk about Israel’s song, ask where they could get it or who the artist was  and to share their wonder over the double rainbow.   Hirono has that song and others on her iPod for long plane rides back and forth to Hawaii, so she was more than familiar with it.

You can see an msnbc report on the funeral and the rainbow HERE.

To learn more about Israel and his music, go to The Advertiser’s special report on the artist HERE 

The darker corners of the blogosphere keep looking for something mysterious or unknown about the candidate. Aren’t the facts enough?

The Obama campaign is concerned enough to launch its own anti-rumor website, but that’s a little like Whack-a-Mole. Knock down one and another pops up.

A favorite among the conspiracy theorists is the absence of a birth certificate for Obama, who came into the world on Aug. 4, 1961. The Obama campaign has provided a copy of the certificate, and you can see it HERE.

But apparently that’s not good enough. Conspiracy folks want the original dog-eared version, apparently.

If they get it, they’ll just move on to the next goofy rumor. Apparently looking at what the candidate actually says and promises to do is just too much work.

(And we’ll thank you not to follow up with jokes about the McCain birth certificate being written on papyrus)

But the numbers are few and the folks picking up papers to run are generally unknown.

The liklihood that most, if not all, of the faces running Honolulu City Hall will still be there in November once the elections are over.

Is that a bad thing? It’s easy to dismiss the lack of challengers as apathy or fear of the power of incumbents. But it is just as easy to assume the lack of interest in the races reflects a general level of comfort, it not excitement, over the people now holding office.

Yes, we like a vibrant and thoughtful contest for public office. In time, many will come to recognize that the everlasting campaign between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton gave voters an unparalled look at the candidates, their thinking and their reactions toward each other.

But that was pretty much an aberration. Even presidential contests often devolve into a race between the consensus expected winner and a challenger or two.

The folks pushing the “clean elections” agenda argue that publicly financed elections will take the corrupting and distorting impact of big money out of politics. But the program might have another effect as well: If it wasn’t so expensive, maybe more people would take the time to test and challenge the people currently holding office.

No matter how well they are doing, they would be swell-served by a strong challenge and an opportunity to explain themselves in a public political context.

Oddly, Cleveland may be remembered over time not for his many accomplishments, but for the simple but profound idea contained in a single 1950 quote: “The revolution of rising expectations.”

This was the idea that creating expectatations (and perhaps the climate) for improvement in life or society is a powerful act. Once people know there is something better and are convinced they deserve it, they become a revolutionary force.

Cleveland was thinking globally when he said this. But the thought applies to his own tenure at the UH. The former diplomat came in when the campus was in turmoil over Vietnam and, at the same time, on the verge of major expansiona and improvement. With Gov. John A. Burns ready and willing to spend what it took to make the UH a first-class institution, Cleveland moved fast to open a law school, expand the medical school and expand the university’s reach statewide.

He didn’t get as far as he wanted, in part because the the pin-striped diplomat just couldn’t reach a comfortable accomodation with Hawaii lawmakers who expected a different kind of relationship with the university president.

So, ironically, Cleveland created a revolution of rising expectations for the state’s university, a revolution that has yet to fully accomplish its goals.