Unions vs. National Dem Party in Hawaii

From The Weekly Standard: “Hawaii’s special election to fill Rep. Neil Abercrombie’s seat has been getting generous buzz for a week as Republican candidate Charles Djou has unexpectedly pulled even with possible Democrat challengers in Obama’s home district. Abercrombie is running for governor. The “National Democrats increasingly worried about special election in Hawaii” story made an appearance in national political headlines every day of last week as Djou held strong and Democrats became increasingly fractured on their candidate choice. You will run in a three-way, winner-take-all contest against two well-known Democrats in an election conducted via mail-in ballot between May 2 and May 22. National Democrats are somewhat quietly putting their weight behind former Rep. Ed Case, but powerful local unions are backing state Sen. Colleen Hanabusa. Labor unions are set to drop 2 mail pieces in support of Hanabusa this week, a source tells Hotline OnCall, aimed at convincing union workers that Case’s record is out of step with labor’s political goals. An AFL-CIO mailer and one from the Longshoreman’s union highlight some issues on which Case stands against labor positions while touting Hanabusa’s work on unions’ behalf. Hanabusa has backing from the HI teachers union, a powerful force in state politics. And the mailers are aimed at the district’s 52K AFL-CIO members and 30K Working America members, according to union figures, a significant portion of the electorate. …”

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