We ranked all the incumbents on a scale 1-10, based upon their recorded votes on specific bills we were tracking. There were a LOT of incumbents who scored very highly with us and who we liked. But a lot of these incumbents (and some challengers) did NOT return our survey in time for our endorsement vote.

Anyone who has tried to get candidates to fill out surveys of this sort soon realizes how many organizations are asking candidates to fill out their surveys. Some candidates, particularly incumbents without challengers in the primary, are disinclined to fill out such surveys.

We decided we would not endorse any candidate who did not request an endorsement, and treated their response as a sign of their interest. Nonetheless, we DID evaluate each of the incumbents, based upon their scores and our experiences with them. Here are the incumbents we WOULD have endorsed had they responded and asked for our endorsement. We will probably follow up AFTER the primary and ask if they want our endorsement:

SD15 Glenn Wakai
HD06 Denny Coffman
HD21 Scott Nishimoto
HD22 Scott Saiki
HD25 Della Au Belatti
HD26 Sylvia Luke
HD46 We are still waiting for a clarification on some answers from Dawn Wasson.
HD47 We received a LATE response from Jessica Wooley and will be endorsing her.
HD49 We received a late response from challenger John Chinen. Too late for the PAC, but PDH has endorsed him over incumbent Pono Chong.

In the remaining races, we either got no response from the candidates or were unenthused about either the incumbents or the challengers. Or there is no contest in the primary, so we can revisit the race prior to the general. In one race on Maui, HD08, Justin Hughey gave very good answers, but some felt he had no roots in the district and most Maui progressives appear to be supporting Tasha Kama over former Speaker Joe Souki. Tasha Kama, while good on some important issues, is opposed to civil unions, which prevented some of the PAC people from being able to support her. As a result, we did not endorse in that race.

So back to the original question: Mina does not have a primary challenger. She MAY have a GOP challenger in the general election, although the Kauai County Democratic Party might still challenge the eligibility of her opponent due to shenanigans played by another Republican candidate filing and then withdrawing. PDH co-chair Josh Frost has been providing on-Oahu support for Mina’s challenge, filling a void created by inaction from the state Democratic Party.

So despite some unfounded criticisms voiced elsewhere on the social networks, Josh Frost and the PAC members are deeply committed to helping Mina Morita be re-elected to the House. Either she will fill out the damn survey, or we will be forced to change our rules for the general election.

Let me try to answer what was meant by “enthusiasm.”

It was a combination of factors. For incumbents, it meant the score of their voting record for the last year; for challengers, it meant their answers, plus our knowledge (or at least impressions) of their personality, values, energy, etc. (Some of the candidates are quite impressive when you talk with them.)

Sometimes our enthusiam was a reflection of our hostility to their opponent. Sometimes it was for appreciation that they were willing to step into the breach to do battle. Sometimes we had slightly different assessments of a candidate, with some folks more enthused than others.

For a candidate to get an “enthusiastic” recommendation required consensus.

I’m hopeful with the Obama talk today and Congressional testimony. It’s good that BP has tried many different things. Testimony from the other companies is that they don’t have any better ideas so it seems that BP has done whatever any other company would have done. At some point, the Federal experts may provide more guidance. For example, it seems that there was a lot of pressure from the experts to not use a dispersant. I also think that the two side-hole drillings now have a greater chance to succeed because so many are doing the calculations and design that make success more certain. It can still fail but only for some cause that they did not anticipate.

Obama also expects that 95% of the upwelling oil will now be captured before it can spread. That’s real progress. Plans and actions for cleaning marshland and beaches are also good for the region. Since BP will pay for this and the drilling rigs that are in a 6 month moratorium, the economy of the region will be saved even if the environment will not. Hopefully, BP will learn from this failure and be prepared for the next disaster when it happens. I like one of the other company responses that there should be no need response to loss of well-head secureness because it wont happen if they are careful. It’s so typical of denial of the inevitable.

Scroll down to the 15 year chart for some perspective.

I appreciate your desire to keep the writing focussed. But you asked the question why Goldman got all the attention and everyone is ignoring Magnetar. The answer appears to be in the second article you provided a link to:

The CEO of Magnetar focussed ALL of his campaign contributions on Rahm Emanuel! Yet another indication Rahm is the Devil’s Spawn.

Seriously folks, if you want to predict the behavior of this administration, stop wondering “What Would Obama Do”? That will only mislead you. Even I have to admit I get lulled by Obama and I know better. It’s like dealing with a vampire: “Don’t look into his eyes!” Instead, focus on Rahm Emanuel. What would Rahm do? 90% of the time, you will be right!

BTW, Christian, you mentioned how you had the brilliant idea of selling short in the housing market, but didn’t follow up. When Bush was running against Gore, a friend asked me how that would affect the Market. WTH do I know? But I had just heard an analysis by investment consultants. The gist of it was, buy stock in oil companies and military contractors. I thought that sounded a bit too much like a crude Marxist stereotype. But WOW! It would have made me rich if I had followed it.

I passed this onto another friend who DID have money to invest. He ignored it and thanked me a few years latter. His net worth had shot up tremendously. How? He listened to my warnings about Bush, figured the world would go into the tank and bought gold. By the time we talked about it several years later, his initial investment had tripled in value.(I’m still hoping he’ll buy me a beer).