i L i n d . n e t

A story in this morning’s Star-Bulletin by Richard Borreca notes the preliminary campaign committee registrations filed by Duke Aiona, who set up a committee for a 2010 run for governor, and Charles Djou, who has indicated a run for lt. governor. Although Aiona hasn’t made an announcement and declined to discuss his intentions, Richard got all the confirmation he needed from the committee filing. Good job.

Aiona’s committee registration was trigged by initial fundraising already underway years before the election. State law requires a candidate to register their campaign committee with the Campaign Spending Commission “within ten days of…The date the candidate or candidate’s committee receives contributions or makes expenditures that amount to more than $100 in the aggregate during the applicable election period. ”

Borreca’s story follows a good column yesterday which reported Rep. Neil Abercrombie’s possible interest in a gubernatorial run in addition to a likely run by Mayor Hannemann.

Sen. Inouye’s senate seat will also be on the ballot in 2010, another race certain to be hotly contested, meaning that it could be the most expensive election year we’ve ever seen.

A June 1 e-mail from former congressman Ed Case made clear he’s back in campaign mode, although it’s not yet clear what race he will personally jump into.

This time his message takes a noticeably softer tone.

This is not about just tossing all the rascals out; many are serving us well. But clearly the current mix can be improved, and that takes candidates. And all elected officials, longtimers or newcomers, serve better for competition.

He details the 111 seats statewide that will be on the ballot in 2008 and encourages new candidates to step up. But most importantly, he’s exercising the communications network and keeping his backers in the loop. This e-mail comes from edcase.com, which at first doesn’t appear to be tied to his 2006 senate race but indeed still opens up to “campaign central”.

According to a story in Marine Corps Times, Abercrombie is behind a move by the House Armed Service Committee to stop people from making short trips to Iraq or Afghanistan “just for the benefits — which include danger pay and federal tax exemption on their monthly income.”

Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, the lawmaker behind the order, said he hopes to separately launch a congressional investigation into what he views as cheating that makes a “mockery of the people who are really in a war zone and really facing danger.”

“There are people out there being shot at every day,” Abercrombie said. “I am talking here about honor. How much is your honor worth? If you went in a combat zone just for the pay on a made-up mission, it is not the same as being in a combat zone.”