There’s been lots of talk about how this year’s elections — at least locally — are rather on the dull front. Few dramatic challenges to incumbents are on the horizon. If you’ve been watching television, you might have noticed advertisements for Congresswoman Mazie Hirono, but those appear designed to scare others off rather than deal with a serious electoral threat.

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?

There he goes again. Hawaii’s Barack Obama made headlines with word he will deliver his acceptance speech at the Denver Democratic Convention not within the convention hall itself, but rather at the 75,000-seat Mile High Stadium, home to the Denver Broncos.

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?

Interesting new strategy is developing by core supporters of the Hawaiian recognition or Akaka Bill.

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?

Apparently multi-ethnic, globally schooled, Hawaii born and bred Barack Obama just isn’t complex or exotic enough for folks.

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)

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.