Well, there goes the last drop of political suspense. Even as Hawaii’s Democratic delegates begin to trickle into Denver for their convention, the word is out by text message and news media leak that Delaware Sen. Joe Biden will be Barack Obama’s vice-presidential running mate.

That should serve as a relatively popular choice with the Hawaii pols, particularly the senior ones who have run into the experienced Biden over the years. Perhaps the most interested delegate will be Sen. Daniel Inouye, who — like Biden — is a senate “lifer” who has spent more than half his life in the U.S. Senate. Only Robert Byrd, Edward Kennedy and Inouye himself share that distinction, according to Congressional Quarterly.

Now, it is well known that Inouye was an avid and stubborn backer of Hillary Clinton, sticking with her even when Hawaii Democrats swooned over Obama at their caucuses earlier this year. And he has said he believes Obama would have done well to choose a vice-presidential candidate with military experience, someone like Sen. Bob Kerrey or James Webb.

But now here we are. And it should be noted that when Biden made his abortive run for president in 1987, one of the first to endorse him was his Senatorial colleague, Daniel K. Inouye. In short, they go back a long way.

DENVER — The big Democratic National Convention has not even begun and some of the political commentators are already sniffing about what a waste of time it all is. After all, we already know who the candidate is, the platform is primarily an excercise in not trapping Obama in a political corner and the one bit of suspense — the name of the Vice-Presidential nominee — will be settled shortly.

But don’t kid yourself. This convention will matter, both to the candidate and to the political regulars who spend a considerable amount of time and money being here.

Take the political troops first. This is where they get energized, get informed and get geared up for the fall elections. What they pick up here will reverberate down through every political race this year. The same goes for the Republicans, who will have their convention right after the Democrats are pau. If you watch these conventions carefully, you’ll hear themes, ideas and political approaches that will be repeated in local contests throughout Hawaii this fall.

As for the candidate, there are two major tasks. The biggest, obviously, will be his Thursday night speech where he will have his first, last and best chance to convince the nation he is ready to lead. He also has a high bar to get over. Obama’s speech four years ago to the Democratic convention is legendary. He will be expected to best himself.

But before Thursday, Obama’s task will be to introduce himself to the nation. Believe it or not, a lot of people remain fuzzy, or even skeptical, about who Obama is, what his background was and where he came from. This “biographical” theme is critical for the Obama campaign as they introduce the candidate to America. That part of the message begins Monday night, and you can bet the Hawaii delegation will be watching carefully because Hawaii is a far bigger part of the Obama biography than most people know.

For all the talk about this being a fairly flat election year, there is at least one race that has considerable political firepower.

That’s the battle to take over as mayor of the Big Island, where popular Harry Kim is stepping aside. Close to a dozen people think they have what it takes to step into the shoes of a man that has dominated public life as mayor and civil defense director for years.

While a field that large leaves open the possibility of almost anything happening, most folks on the Big Island (and the polls back them up) believe the contest today has boiled down to four leaders and then some followers. The top four, it appears, are state Sen. Lorraine Inouye, a veteran of county and state politics and a former mayor; Billy Kenoi, an attorney and former Kim aide; Councilman Stacy Higa and Councilman Angel Pilago.

The four appeared at a “forum” last week sponsored by the Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce and several other chambers. What you saw was an impressive group of people who are clearly passionate about their home island and more than willing to take on the huge challenge of leading the country through a substantial economic slump.

There weren’t any major policy disputes between the four. Rather, they are competing on biography and to a degree on the style of leadership they would bring to county government. This is no small matter in the context of the vacuum that Kim leaves behind.

To give you some perspective, this group handled a variety of questions (including several sensitive ones about personal attacks bubbling behind the campaign) with little trouble, but they seemed to struggle when asked how or where they disagree with Kim. No one in this race, it seems, has much taste for being in disagreement with Hawaii County’s political demigod.

To get a taste of what this campaign is like, check out this video from Big Island Video News that was highlighted by Hunter Bishop in his blog. It’s worth a watch.

The latest Hawaii Poll on transit continues to confound and amaze.

In the latest story on the poll, reporter Sean Hao says well over  half of those surveyed said they were unlikely to ride a rail transit system if it is built.  Not good news for transit backers, right?

Well, no. Because, if if even a substantial minority of the population chose to ride the rail system, it would be an overwhelming success.  Anyone who commutes during the times the University of Hawaii is out of session knows how much a small decline in commuter volume positively impacts overall commute times.  The UH contributes far less than 10 percent of all trafffic. If 10-20-or-30 percent of the commuters switch off the road for rail, it will be wide open spaces for everyone left.

So it is hardly bad news that a majority of folks, including all those who would have no reason to ride the system, say they aren’t interested in  rail. The tougher issue is the “if-we-build-it-will-they-come?” matter. People say they would ride the system. But will they, when it is actually there before them?

The problem here is that the only way to test that question adequately is to build something. On that score, the experience in other jurisdictions is decidedly mixed.

Fundamentally, people go to mass transit when they have no realistic alternative. Are we at that point in Honolulu?

If our elected public officials seem to be all over the map on whether we should or should not build a multi-billion dollar fixed rail transit system in Honolulu, maybe it is merely a reflection of how the public feels.

That, at any rate, is one conclusion one could reach from the reaction to the latest Advertiser Hawaii Poll on transit issues. The people surveyed, to be blunt, were nothing if not perplexed by this whole transit thing:

Yes, they want a rail project by a substantial margin, but half of those same respondents believe the project is too expensive for Honolulu. About half of them also say the money would be better spent somewhere else. Yes, we should put the rail issue on the ballot (nevermind that the currently proposed ballot question effectively asks voters to reject the transit project). But if that issue does get on the ballot, the respondents said by a substantial majority, they would vote in favor of going ahead with the project.

In short, this is Contradiction City. No wonder the folks we elected to make decisions are having such a difficult time doing just that.