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Running mates Duke Aiona and Lynn Finnegan on Sunday unveiled the first in a series of web videos the Republican gubernatorial team says it “will share online to discuss real solutions that will benefit all of Hawaii.”

Maybe so.

But the video series definitely shows a united campaign for governor and lieutenant governor that has hit the campaign trail harder, faster and slicker than the Democratic team of Neil Abercrombie–Brian Schatz.

It’s only 30 seconds but seems faster because of the use of time-lapse sequences.

Called “Piston,” the first in a series of web videos is basically an Oahu road trip — the scenic highway from Hanauma Bay to Sandy’s Beach, along Ala Wai Boulevard, around Kahala, a rural road.

There’s no people, just cars in light traffic. There’s also a voice-over from Duke Aiona:

“Higher taxes. Regulations. A large bureaucracy. 

These have never created a single job. So how can Hawaii rediscover the path toward good-paying jobs? 

Holding the line on taxes…so you can keep more of your own money. 
 Cutting the red tape that has a stranglehold on small businesses that want to create jobs. 

And a mindset that the people of Hawaii deserve a principled governor whose number one priority…is creating jobs.”

The transcript is pure political boilerplate. No solutions there. (A bit odd, too, given that Aiona has been part of the Lingle-Aiona administration for the past eight years.)

But the production values for “Piston” (inspired by all the cars, it seems, or maybe a professional basketball team from Detroit) are pretty slick.

As the camera zips along the roadways, every time Aiona mentions an onerous word like “regulations” or “bureaucracy,” the word itself appears on the screen as if it were an actual roadblock.

When the “solution” words are stated — e.g., “cutting the red tape” — these words also appear on screen but are positioned above the roadway and given a little graphic swirl, suggesting these words will help Hawaii “rise above” its problems.

The pulsing soundtrack is post-MTV, and Aiona’s appearance at the end — in the driver’s seat and wearing sunglasses — shows a man in charge.

(Curiously, Lynn Finnegan is not in the clip. Maybe it was filmed before the primary.)

One other thing about the video series: It shows that Aiona and Finnegan have gelled quickly as a partnership. Their campaigns moved quickly to form a joint website following the primary, while the the Neil Abercrombie-Brian Schatz website has been slower out the gate.

Abercrombie took some time off last week, and he and Schatz have not been in the news much. By contrast, Aiona and Finnegan have held a half-dozen press conferences and community talk stories.

One week down, five weeks to go Election Day. Give the Republican ticket points for kicking it up.