Hannemann appearance on Kaua‘i draws crowd

LIHU‘E — Billed as a grassroots rally to encourage Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann to run for governor in 2010, hundreds of people took advantage of the Prince Kuhio holiday to converge at the Kaua‘i War Memorial Convention Hall, Friday.

With Augie T on the entertainment slate and the aroma of fish wafting through the parking lot of the convention hall, people were not disappointed.

This is the fourth rally held statewide since February to encourage Hannemann’s run for governor, states a release from the “GO Mufi GO!” headquarters.

Hannemann was on Kaua‘i last week to attend Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr.’s State of the County address and extended his trip to take in the 2010 Contractors Association of Kaua‘i home show where he was stopped to chat with passers-by. Carvalho did the honors at the opening of the show where he took the opportunity to introduce Hannemann.

Carvalho and his wife Regina showed up at the convention hall get-together as did a lot of the county’s department heads and employees.

The Mufi release states that both Carvalho and Hannemann have worked collaboratively on common issues faced by their respective islands.

In February, thousands of supporters on the Big Island and Maui turned out to urge Hannemann to enter the governor’s race — a decision he said he won’t announce until May, according to media reports.

That delay is caused by work he still has pending in the Honolulu mayor’s office, he said, heedless of the egging by gubernatorial candidate Neil Abercrombie who earlier resigned his Congressional seat to run for governor.

Abercrombie will open and bless his Kaua‘i campaign headquarters on Wednesday, from 5 to 7:30 p.m., states a release from the Abercrombie for Governor headquarters. His earlier plans to open and bless the O‘ahu headquarters were delayed due to the threat of a tsunami in late February.