Josh Goodman is a former staff writer for GOVERNING..
E-mail: mailbox@governing.comTwitter: @governing
I was quite surprised to find a long piece about Saturday's Hawaii Democratic primary for governor in, of all places, the Style section of the Washington Post. Read the whole thing for a better sense of the race, but here are some random things that I learned:
-U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie knew President Obama's father. The president's half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, is backing Abercrombie's campaign.
-There are all sorts of weird racial and ethnic undertones to the contest between Abercrombie and former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann -- the contest has been far more divisive than I realized.
-Hannemann and Abercrombie ran against each other for Congress in 1986. I wonder, what's the longest gap between two people running against each other for office?
-Hannemann in six-foot-seven and used to coach basketball at a high school that was a rival to Obama's school.
If there's one thing I think the reporter (Jason Horowitz) missed, it's the substantial gap between Abercrombie and Hannemann on social issues. Hannemann is socially conservative, while Abercrombie is socially liberal. At least, that's my impression from several thousand miles away.
Josh Goodman is a former staff writer for GOVERNING..
E-mail: mailbox@governing.com 
GOVERNING Politics is the place for news and analysis on campaigns and elections. If there's a ballot measure in California, a legislative election in Alabama, a mayoral election in Anchorage or a governor's race in Rhode Island, GOVERNING Politics probably is writing about it. We love everything about state and local politics, from polls and campaign ads to policy debates and demographic trends.
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