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At the invitation of the Hawaii Crop Improvement Association, MidWeek’s Dan Boylan, Richard Borreca of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Jerry Burris of The Honolulu Advertiser, and a Civil Beat reporter-host (yep, me) opined at the Honolulu Country Club May 11. The subject was politics.

Amidst all the laughs — Boylan joked he may run for lieutenant governor after he retires from UH West Oahu this summer, if only for the limousine service — came some pertinent observations.

Borreca: He and Burris have been writing for years that religion will play a role in local elections, yet it never really does. Civil unions may not change that pattern.

Boylan: Duke Aiona and Lynn Finnegan would make a very attractive, youthful Republican ticket for governor and lieutenant governor. Imagine them running against the Democratic team of Mufi Hannemann (very tall) and Brian Schatz (on the short side), or Neil Abercrombie (ditto) and Schatz.

Burris: Lingle did a remarkable job of keeping a high profile in office but failed to build her party with patronage. Every chief executive flounders in their last years in office.

Borreca: The Charles Djou hype will die down even if he’s elected May 22, though Fox News may keep reporting about Hawaii throughout the summer.

Boylan: Dan Inouye is politically very powerful in D.C., but he really doesn’t have all that much sway in Hawaii elections. What Democrats have going for them is a deep bench, something local Republicans have always lacked.

Burris and Borreca: Abercrombie and Hannemann don’t disagree on much, and they both support rail. It is a difference in style, though, with Abercrombie a jolly warrior sign-waving in Puna and other neighbor island communities compared with Hannemann and his slick media machine and establishment support on his side.

Blair: My name begins with the same initial as Boylan, Borreca and Burris.

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