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Politics

Hawaii voters go to polls for key Senate primary

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 24, 2006

HONOLULU - Hawaii residents went to the polls Saturday to choose between liberal five-term incumbent Sen. Daniel Akaka and challenger Rep. Ed Case in the Democratic Senate primary.

Case, 53, faced the challenge of unseating the 82-year-old Akaka, who led in pre-election polls and who has cited his votes against the Iraq war and his 30 years of Congressional experience as reasons voters should back him.

Democratic-leaning Hawaii has never unseated an incumbent member of Congress since it became a state in 1959, but Case has centered his campaign around the idea that voters need to boot out Akaka in favor of a more youthful representative who can start to build up seniority.

Polls were to close at midnight EDT, with the first results to be released at 3:30 a.m. today.

Two recent polls had showed Akaka with a substantial lead among likely Democratic voters.

Akaka, who drew endorsements from leading Senate Democrats, held a key advantage in fundraising, collecting more than $2-million to Case's $817,000 by early this month.

The winner faces no serious GOP opposition in the general election, although Republican Gov. Linda Lingle asked voters to nominate motivational speaker Jerry Coffee, who pulled out of the race because of illness. That would enable the party to pick a new candidate for November.

[Last modified September 24, 2006, 01:37:44]