Soetoro-Ng headlines rally in Lihu‘e by Michael Levine – The Garden Island Party leaders and campaign officials, hoping to use presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s popularity in Hawai‘i to both drum up support in western Mainland battleground states and help local
Soetoro-Ng headlines rally in Lihu‘e
by Michael Levine – The Garden Island
Party leaders and campaign officials, hoping to use presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s popularity in Hawai‘i to both drum up support in western Mainland battleground states and help local Democratic candidates, cheered on Obama’s half-sister, O‘ahu teacher Maya Soetoro-Ng, at a raucous rally at the War Memorial Convention Hall yesterday afternoon in Lihu‘e.
“I think Hawai‘i has great symbolic importance because this is an election where Hawai‘i’s voice was heard. … We have much more power than we realize,” Soetoro-Ng said in an interview with The Garden Island after her speech.
“The most critical part of getting a person to make the right decision is sharing our stories and our reasons and weaving our individual story into the national story. I really want the people of Hawai‘i to be part of that tapestry and get involved.”
Soetoro-Ng echoed that sentiment during her speech to an estimated 600 to 700 attendees.
“No matter how small our islands are and how big the ocean is, we can stretch our arms across the ocean to the rest of the country and we can impact them and make sure that our priorities are heard, that our way of seeing the world becomes the norm, because it’s beautiful,” she said.
Later asked how Obama’s childhood in Hawai‘i would impact his presidency, Soetoro-Ng said the state’s diversity is one of the reasons for her brother’s bridge-building penchant.
“It impacts the way that he communicates and the way that he views the world. I think his perspective was developed and enriched by these islands and the people in it,” she said.
“We are so deeply impacted by our environments, and he spent a lot of years here. He returns year after year. He loves Hawai‘i.”
Soetoro-Ng’s speech followed short remarks from Kaua‘i mayoral candidates Bernard Carvalho and JoAnn Yukimura, who both tied their campaigns to Obama’s quest for change.
“The kind of change that will make our country, state and county strong,” Carvalho said.
Yukimura agreed.
“Barack Obama calls us to be the best we can be, as a country and as individuals. America needs Barack Obama, and Kaua‘i needs Barack Obama,” she said.
Both candidates, and a handful of Kaua‘i County Council hopefuls, were invited to the event and recognized by master of ceremonies Ron Wiley by virtue of being registered Democrats. The county races are non-partisan.
Helping “down-ticket” Democratic politicians was just one of the three aims of the event, said Andy Winer, Hawai‘i State Director of the Obama for America campaign.
The first goal is to make Obama’s margin of victory over Republican nominee John McCain at the Nov. 4 general election in Hawai‘i the largest in the country, Winer said. A Sept. 23 Rasmussen Reports poll of 500 likely Hawai‘i voters found that Obama led McCain by a 68 to 27 percent clip.
The second purpose of local campaigning is to help foster a team mentality by supporting Democrats in county and state elections, Winer said.
He and Democratic Party of Hawai‘i Chair Brian Schatz singled out state Sen. Gary Hooser, who also serves as the honorary chair of the Kaua‘i for Obama steering committee and introduced Soetoro-Ng to the crowd, as a critical local politician that should be re-elected.
Thirdly, the Hawai‘i-based Obama camp has sent nearly $3 million in locally raised funds to Obama’s national campaign, according to Winer, helping the Illinois senator’s chances in more hotly contested regions of the country.
Furthermore, local supporters were instructed by campaign officials to bombard critical western “swing” states such as Nevada, where some 50,000 ex-Hawai‘i residents now live, with phone calls and on-the-ground support.
“We know Hawai‘i will turn out the vote, there’s no question about that,” said Mary Nissenson, volunteer coordinator of Kaua‘i for Obama. “But we can use the support he has here to bolster his support in battleground states.”
Nissenson said she expected to be deployed to Virginia, another tight race, in the next week.
Earlier in the day, some 25 Obama supporters held signs and waved to motorists on the northwest corner of Ahukini Road and Kapule Highway, across from the Lihu‘e Airport, as part of an event they called “The Rock for Barack.”
Kaua‘i Democratic Party Vice Chair Steven Nishimura joked that Obama, if elected, would certainly be “the best surfer to ever live in the White House.”
Kaua‘i Republican Party officials did not have details for any upcoming events.
• Michael Levine, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or via e-mail at mlevine@kauaipubco.com
