Down in every poll, unable to get even a single woman senator to endorse her rotgut campaign against progressive Senator Brian Schatz, corrupt New Dem Colleen Hanabusa is eager to talk about anything other than her record in Congress because her record is so awful. She's talks more about what she did in the state Senate than about doing anything in Congress. That's because she hasn't done anything in Congress-- at least not for her constituents. Although she's always at the front of the line when corporate lobbyists are handing out their greasy checks, she's a quintessential backbencher. Hanabusa has passed exactly one bill since being elected to Congress-- naming a post office after former Rep. Cec Heftel-- and she has never introduced legislation on Social Security, college affordability, gun control, or clean energy.Since she has no record of her own to talk about, the last debate saw her accusing Senator Schatz of inflating his record regarding his work on the tourism subcommittee, but when she was confronted by the facts of her own misstatements by Hawaii News Now, her own campaign chair admitted she spoke without knowing the facts. Which is, after all, a hallmark of Colleen Hanabusa's career.Since absentee ballots were mailed out to 100,000 voters in Hawaii over the weekend, we thought we'd offer a look back over the Hanabusa campaign through the DWT coverage that started last April when Beltway anti-progressive operation EMILY's List recruited her to run against Schatz.
Hanabusa, an opportunist burning with ambition, was first elected to the House in 2010. She joined the conservative, Big Business-aligned New Dems and ran up a mediocre record as a backbencher with little to no influence. Rather than follow the trail being blazed by fellow congresswoman Mazie Hirono, a progressive champion, Hanabusa stuck to a path to nowhere started by much-disliked right-wing former Democratic Congressman Ed Case. Yesterday she announced she will give up her House seat to run for Brian Schatz's seat in the Senate.Hanabusa had been considering primary challenges to either Schatz or Abercrombie. A source close to her campaign said Monday that Hanabusa had decided on a Senate campaign and was informing close allies.A primary between Schatz, 40, and Hanabusa, 61, would evoke generational as well as political fault lines within the Democratic Party. Schatz, a progressive, has the potential to build seniority in the Senate over a generation. Hanabusa, a more traditional liberal, will contend that her experience prepares her to have an immediate impact.By "traditional liberal," they mean corrupt conservative. The only mark Hanabusa has made in Congress, other than being a lap dog for K Street and a predictable New Dem, was pioneering a way around ethics rules to make money personally from her campaign. Hanabusa "collected significant amounts of money in interest from personal loans she made to her campaign. In addition, her campaign reimbursed her husband thousands of dollars in expenses."
Hawaii's primary is August 9. These posts should give you the ammunition you need to talking about this race with friends, co-workers, neighbors and relatives about why Hanabusa is a terrible choice for Hawaii and for the U.S. Senate and why every single U.S.senator who has decided to endorse has endorsed Brian Schatz, despite intense pressure from EMILY's List and from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, and why President Obama is urging voters in Hawaii to reelect Schatz.
• Hanabusa's disgraceful vote against the privacy protection Schatz and the progressive wing of the Democratic Party are fighting for.• Hanabusa's political cowardice on LGBT equality Why GOP warmongers and deep-pocketed defense contractors and arms manufacturers are backing Hanabusa• Hanabusa's second thoughts on giving up her safe House seat for the Senate run she realized she would probably lose• Hanabusa constituents petitioning her to resign from the corrupt conservative New Dems and work for Hawaii's ordinary working families instead• Which candidate has a better record on Choice and on women's issues?• Hanabusa's criminal activities on behalf of the corrupt drug lobbyists• The two wings of the Democratic Party-- Hanabusa and the Republican wing and Schatz and the progressive wing• A look at the shady Beltway insiders who are pushing-- and financing-- Hanabusa's run• Why feminists are abandoning Hanabusa and backing Schatz-- it's all in their records• Schatz/Hanabusa-- compare and contrast: the records• PCCC endorses Schatz• Hanabusa on the wrong side of the battle for raising the minimum wage and how she worked with Republicans and against workers to lower the increase• Why President Obama endorsed Brian Schatz and not Colleen Hanabusa• Hanabusa's bipartisanship means plotting with GOP warmongers and arms manufacturers• The difference between bipartisanship and selling out• Why progressive icon Elizabeth Warren ignored EMILY's List and endorsed Brian Schatz over Hanabusa• How her record on pollution is hurting Hanabus'a chances against environmental champion Brian Schatz• How voting records count in elections between incumbents and why voters are aghast at Hanabusa's• Hanabusa refuses to tell Ben Cayetano that anti-Semitism has no place in Hawaii politics• How her corporate-backed "free" trade agenda hurts Hawaii-- and her own campaign• Hanabusa's less than stellar record on protecting Social Security
It's still not too late to help persuade people you know how important this race is and how much better Schatz is than Hanabusa. And it's not too late to contribute to Schatz's get out the vote efforts. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) explains the difference between the two wings of the Democratic Party: