Despite all the excitement generated by the presidential contest, this is looking to be a real ho-hum election in Hawaii.

The battle over transit, not even an actual contest for political office, looks to be the hottest item on the ballot in Honolulu. Statewide, there may be some controversy over the proposed Constitutional Convention, but that won’t become apparent until the last few weeks before the election.

Otherwise, what? One indication of the low wattage of this year’s election cycle can be found in the number of people who filed for office. Just 282 filed this year, down substantially from 324 two years ago. There were more than 300 candidates in the ‘o4 and ‘02 cycles. In 2002, more than 400 filed,  a number which to that point was closer to the norm than the exception.

How can one explain this apparent lack of interest. Is it that folks are pretty much satisfied with things the way they are, and see no reason to push change? Or, is it that they just don’t care?

Despite all the excitement generated by the presidential contest, this is looking to be a real ho-hum election in Hawaii.

The battle over transit, not even an actual contest for political office, looks to be the hottest item on the ballot in Honolulu. Statewide, there may be some controversy over the proposed Constitutional Convention, but that won’t become apparent until the last few weeks before the election.

Otherwise, what? One indication of the low wattage of this year’s election cycle can be found in the number of people who filed for office. Just 282 filed this year, down substantially from 324 two years ago. There were more than 300 candidates in the ‘o4 and ‘02 cycles. In 2002, more than 400 filed,  a number which to that point was closer to the norm than the exception.

How can one explain this apparent lack of interest. Is it that folks are pretty much satisfied with things the way they are, and see no reason to push change? Or, is it that they just don’t care?

So now, according to reporter Peter Boylan, a trickle of challengers has begun to emerge in the upcoming elections for Honolulu City Council and Mayor.

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.

As at any party convention, the background noise is always about politics: Who is running, who isn’t, who is going to use the occasion to make a public move and so on.

So, in the hours leading up to Congressman Neil Abercrombie’s pre-lunch speech, there was a lot of speculation about whether he might use the occasion to announce his political plans to the future. There’s a lot of talk about Abercrombie running for governor in 2010.

Well, Abercrombie  didn’t have anything to say on that front. Directly.

But the next election cycle was obviously on his mind.  The exciting presidential year of 2008, he said, “is just a prelude to 2010.”

That will be the year Abercrombie suggested, when the tone will shift from one of confrontation (with Republican Gov. Linda Lingle) to cooperation at the Legislature.

And who will be on the cooperatin’  end of the stick on the fifth floor of the Capitol? Might he be thinking it could be Gov. Abercrombie?

Meanwhile, they’re still debating those resolutions. Sounds like people truly do care about these issues.