Is Hawaii about to have a Scott Brown experience of their own?

By Eric Odem, 73wire.com

Unless you live in Hawaii, you probably have no idea who he is. But if you follow politics, you’ll soon be hearing the name a lot more.

First, to be clear, Honolulu Councilman Charles Djou (R) has an extremely uphill battle for the seat in Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District. The district is heavily Democrat as far as voters go, and it’s been about two decades since a Republican held the seat.

But thanks to Democratic Rep. Neil Abercrombie, who is now running for Governor, the seat is vacant. There are a few things in play that could help Djou pull off an upset in the race.

First, Djou faces no primary challengers, and the Democrats are squaring off for a bruising three way fight between Ed Case, Colleen Hanabusa, and Mike Gabbard.

Many pundits and analysts believe even more Democrats will soon join the fight for the Democrat side of the ticket, forcing a costly primary election that could give Djou a healthy upper hand.

Second, as in the case of Massachusetts and Scott Brown, the political environment is absolutely toxic for Democrats. In 2008 the electorate voted for “change,” but were instead handed more of the same. A lot more of the same, in fact.

The tone seems to be one that suggests Democrats had an opportunity to prove their ability to actually change the rot in Washington, but instead they stunk it up even more.

Four weeks out from the special election on MA, everyone was saying the race was a lost cause for Republicans. This particular election has significant similarities to the Special Race in MA, and we believe it could result in a similar outcome.