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The 2010 race for governor has been chockfull of published plans and proposals to fix Hawaii’s myriad problems.

On Tuesday morning, Duke Aiona and running mate Lynn Finnegan released a 14-page document comparing how the Republicans’ platform “stacks up” against that of Neil Abercrombie and running mate Brian Schatz. (Hint: Duke ’n Lynn say they’re looking pretty good.)

That afternoon, the Democrats unveiled a 12-page plan on how they will implement the 43-page “A New Day for Hawaii” plan that Abercrombie released in August when he was up against Mufi Hannemann and his 10-point action plan. (Hint: Neil ’n Brian say they got it all figured out.)

That’s a lot of plans.

Whether voters will actually read the plans — which are available online — is unclear. Seems easier to digest a slick TV commercial, scan a newspaper ad or ask your aunty what she thinks of the candidates.

But both Abercrombie and Aiona believe the governor’s race should be decided based on the issues, and they have taken pains to spell out their ideas and deride their opponent’s.

Here’s how the competing plans “stack up,” as well as a glimmer of where the race is just 28 days out from Nov. 2.

Aiona-Finnegan: Compare and Decide

The Aiona-Finnegan team has been on a tear since the primary, meeting with groups across the state, holding more than a half-dozen press conferences and releasing separate on transportation, health care, energy, agriculture, the environment and affordable housing.

They’ve also got the Republican Governors Association spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on “Rise and Shine” ads for Aiona. The Aiona-Finnegan camp on Tuesday released its own second 30-second TV spot, this one aimed at small business.

Tuesday’s press conference was ostensibly to present — people of every stripe, basically, who support the Republican ticket. There were so many of them crammed into Aiona-Finnegan’s Nimitz Highway headquarters that the office’s AC was overtaxed.

Then the candidates announced the release of a 12-page called “Debating the Issues: Jobs and the Economy.”

The document compares Aiona-Finnegan’s plans with Abercrombie-Schatz’s and determines — surprise! — the Republican plan is mo’ better.

For example, under the category of “Accelerate creation of job opportunities,” Aiona-Finnegan suggests several ideas such as “Provide business a tax credit equal to withholding taxes for hiring new employee, thereby reducing the cost of creating new jobs.”

Abercrombie-Schatz?

Nada, according to Aiona-Finnegan, who state, “Opponents’ Plan lacks immediate job creation mechanism.”

You get the idea.

Abercrombie-Schatz: The Plan for the Plan

A couple of hours later, at Abercrombie-Schatz HQ at Ward Warehouse, the Democratic team its 12-page “Recovery and Reinvestment Plan” for Abercrombie’s previously released, 43-page .”

Abercrombie’s plan, which was released Aug. 18, fleshed out ideas that Abercrombie had already listed on his website — you know, from all the conversations he’s been having across the state.

The plan for the plan comes in two phases: a Recovery Phase for the immediate future, to be followed by a Reinvestment Phase for the long term.

Recovery Example: “We will use the bonding power of the state to fund necessary improvements in information technology systems. This will save the state tremendous amounts of money over time in increased efficiency while also improving services for taxpayers.”

The plan for the plan also lays out the state’s fiscal status through 2015 based on projections from the Lingle-Aiona administration and the Council on Revenues.

“Based on the Lingle/Aiona Administration’s own projections, there will be room in the general fund for the next Governor to restore broken services and for making smart public investments without raising taxes,” the plan for the plan states.

Italics not added. You get the idea.

Tit for Tat

Reporters were all over Abercrombie and Schatz about the costs of the plan for the plan. They sounded not a little like Mufi Hannemann, Abercrombie’s vanquished opponent, who tried in vain to get Abercrombie to provide specifics.

The candidates, each wearing aloha shirts and matching blue blazers, expressed confidence things would pencil out just fine.

“This is not a budget but a roadmap for a budget,” said Schatz.

“There are federal dollars available,” said Abercrombie, who twice incorrectly pronounced his running mate’s last name as SHATS instead of SHOTS.

Earlier in the day, back at Aiona-Finnegan HQ, Aiona lambasted the media for what he called “selective” coverage of the campaign.

“Admit it,” he said to the media that was dying for AC. “There is a lack of passion, of excitement. You are partly to blame for that, so you should take part of the responsibility.”

Aiona also dinged Abercrombie for his unwavering faith in federal dollars to help Hawaii, and suggested his opponent was arrogant and disrespectful for taking some down time after the primary (though Aiona himself took four personal days in the week before the primary) and for not accepting — nor even responding to — Aiona’s debate proposal for six topic-specific forums (though Aiona declined multiple invitations to debate Abercrombie, Hannemann or his GOP opponent, John Carroll, during the primary).

Asked later about the latter comment, Abercrombie shrugged, “I don’t understand the question.” He then disparaged the “wreckage” of the last eight years.

By late afternoon, the Aiona-Finnegan camp released a statement on the Abercrombie plan-plan, stating, “Writing a plan to implement a plan is exactly the type of Washington politics we don’t need more of in Hawaii…This is a desperate attempt by our opponents to salvage their failing plan.”

The Abercrombie-Schatz camp had nothing more to say — the day was yet young — but released a colorful chart illustrating the plan-plan.

The first public debate between the two men will be broadcast on Hawaii Public Radio and community television Wednesday from 6:30-8:30 p.m.