Volcanic Ash

The contest for governor between Duke Aiona and Neil Abercrombie has turned negative, but in an ever-so-gentle manner.

The Republican Governors Association has been running a series of “Rise & Shine Hawaii” TV spots presenting positive views of Aiona’s positions on education and other issues.

The RGA’s latest ad goes negative for the first time, but I have to say it’s the nicest negative ad I’ve ever seen.

It starts out expressing appreciation for the Democrat Abercrombie’s 35 years in politics, showing a picture of him in his Sunday best with his blue blazer and neatly trimmed hair and beard.

The announcer goes on, “We appreciate his service, but not how he’s voted. Abercrombie voted for higher taxes on Hawai‘i families, the bailout, failed stimulus — bonuses for Wall Street executives.”

Cut to somewhat grungier picture of the former congressman and the question: “In this economy, Mr. Abercrombie?”

Then comes a picture of a beatific looking Aiona and the announcer’s soothing assurance: “Fortunately, Hawaii has a choice we can afford. Duke Aiona will oppose tax increases and create jobs. A smart, independent leader. Duke Aiona for governor.”

Very mild as far as negative ads go, and a clear sign of the sensitivity to negative advertising in the race after the huge backfire of Mufi Hannemann’s “Compare and Decide” in the primary.

It reminds me of advice in the book “Etiquette for Outlaws” on what to do if you feel a bout of flatulence coming on while at a party. The advice is to find somewhere semi-private to cut a test fart, see how bad it smells and gauge from that if it’s safe to let loose back in mixed company.

This ad was the political equivalent of a test fart to see how much negativity the electorate will tolerate, and it’ll be ramped up until blowback is encountered.

I tried last week to give Duke Aiona my best advice not to start a debate about debates against Neil Abercrombie, but he wouldn’t be denied and it put a bit of tarnish on what was otherwise a good week for the Republican candidate for governor.

The Democrat Abercrombie took the week off to recharge his batteries from his grueling primary race against Mufi Hannemann, and Aiona took advantage of it with a series of news conferences to spotlight his proposals for jobs and the economy, energy, agriculture, the environment, transportation and health care.

Abercrombie had earlier released all of his policy initiatives at once in a 45-page booklet called “A New Day in Hawaii” and was disappointed in the news coverage it got; Aiona got better media attention by spreading it over several events.

But he distracted attention from his substantive proposals by using each occasion to carp at Abercrombie for not accepting his proposal for six televised debates, making that the story — and not necessarily a favorable one for the lieutenant governor.

KITV reported that Aiona seemed clueless about his campaign’s negotiations for a debate on that station that he ultimately agreed to.

And the Maui News chided him in an editorial for accusing Abercrombie of ducking debates after himself refusing to debate his primary opponent John Carroll and ducking joint appearances with Abercrombie and Hannemann.

“It is a little disingenuous to demand that Abercrombie debate him now when Aiona ducked opportunities to do so earlier. His caginess in the primaries is coming back to bite him now,” the editorial said.

But Aiona persisted, and looked a little silly by insisting “he’s ducking, he’s definitely ducking” the same day it was revealed that both candidates had accepted through the normal channels three televised debates and three other joint appearances, with more still on the table.

In a side angle to the debate fracas, Hawaii News Now appears shut out of the gubernatorial debates for the general after all sides complained that its primary debates lacked dignity, with raucus audience participation, “lightning rounds” and an overly busy format that seemed intended to spotlight news personalities as much as the candidates.

Aiona conditionally accepted the HNN debate, but not before complaining to Star-Advertiser reporter Derrick DePledge about the format, saying, “This is not a circus. It’s not entertainment.”

Spokesman Jim McCoy said Abercrombie turned down HNN and KHON mainly because he appeared in their debates in the primary and wanted to be fair and give KITV and PBS Hawaii a chance in the general.

But McCoy said the HNN format was a factor after both the Abercrombie and Hannemann camps were unhappy with the primary debate in which both candidates were heckled by supporters of the other and felt they were given too little time to answer questions.

“During pre primary debate discussions, both the Abercrombie and Hannemann campaigns opposed the ‘lightning round’ aspect, but the station wouldn’t give it up,” McCoy said. “The station stuck to its guns, saying lightning rounds and studio audiences liven a debate, but I recall both our side and Mufi’s side saying it will be lively given who the participants were.

“There were also tug of wars over time allotted  for answers, and you saw the results; candidates were cut off in mid sentence due to the red light going off.”

Two days after Republican James “Duke” Aiona challenged his Democratic opponent for governor Neil Abercrombie to six debates, Aiona’s campaign manager Dutch Hanohano issued a press release ripping Abercrombie for not immediately accepting.

“The people of Hawai‘i need real solutions, not just talk,” Hanohano said in what  hardly seemed a compelling argument for six hours of talk.

There is nothing more boring in a political campaign than a debate about debates, which is on the same intellectual level as the argument over the shape of the table at the Paris peace talks.

In the 2006 Senate race between Daniel Akaka and Ed Case, you would have thought for a time that Case’s only issue was Akaka’s refusal to debate him as often as he wanted. You saw how far that got him.

Early in this year’s Democratic primary, it was Abercrombie whining that Mufi Hannemann wouldn’t agree to his debate demands. They ended up debating so many times in forums around the state that they were feeding each other cues.

Aiona is right that there need to be substantive debates before we go to the polls, but no candidate is going to accept an opponent’s debate proposal as presented — effectively allowing his own campaign timetable to be set by the opposition.

It happens by the campaigns meeting with the private groups that sponsor debates and hashing out a schedule. Until that process happens, trying to paint an opponent as being afraid to debate is one of the oldest — and cheapest — tricks in the book.

This election isn’t going to be decided by who’s the better debate organizer.