Scott Brown’s upset win in Massachusetts dealt a blow to the White House, but another special election loss could hit closer to home for President Obama — literally.
At the end of February, Democratic Rep. Neil Abercrombie, who represented the Congressional district that includes Obama’s birthplace of Honolulu, gave up his seat to run for governor of Hawaii. Under the unique circumstances of the May special election to replace him, there will be a three-way race featuring two Democrats, giving the lone Republican, Honolulu city councilman Charles Djou, a shot to take the seat with a simple plurality.
Djou’s campaign argues that despite the Democratic nature of the state, it promises be a competitive race, and notes that George W. Bush received 47 percent of the vote in the district in 2004, and Republican Gov. Linda Lingle won nearly two-thirds of the vote there in 2006. While the Cook Political Report still considers the seat to “lean Democratic,” it was previously considered safe.
If a Republican can win in the district representing Obama’s birthplace, “then no Democratic seat in the U.S. Congress is safe,” Djou said in an interview on Tuesday at a gathering of reporters in downtown Washington, trying to emphasize the significance of his race.
See the full story here: https://spectator.org/archives/2010/03/12/djou-hopes-for-hawaiian-surpri