HI-01

Abercrombie Endorses Hanabusa For HI-01 As Dems Unite For November

Eric Kleefeld | June 3, 2010, 11:58AM

HI-01 House candidate Colleen Hanabusa (D)

Democrats are now coalescing behind Hawaii state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, after her surprise second-place showing in the recent HI-01 special election, with former Congressman Neil Abercrombie now officially endorsing her for his old seat.

"I wholeheartedly endorse Colleen in the 1st Congressional District because of her service and leadership in the community," wrote Abercrombie, in a statement posted on his gubernatorial campaign site.

In the special election two weeks ago, Republican Charles Djou picked up a seat that President Obama carried with 70% of the vote in 2008, thanks to a split in the Democratic base. Djou had 39.5%, Hanabusa 30.8%, and former Rep. Ed Case -- who had been the favored candidate of national Democrats -- came in a very surprising third with 27.6%. Abercrombie had resigned from the seat in order to focus on his campaign for governor.

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Health Care

Raw Deal: What Were Dems Thinking When They Let Neil Abercrombie Retire?

Brian Beutler | March 12, 2010, 3:00PM

Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI)

It all comes down to votes now. Assuming total opposition on the part of the GOP, President Obama can only enact comprehensive health care reform if 216 Democrats vote for the legislation. That will require pleading, promises, and arm-twisting, and it will also mean Democrats can't afford to lose any more yes votes between now and the end of next week.

But they already let one slip away.

Neil Abercrombie resigned at the end of February to pursue the governorship of Hawaii, and took with him an assured "yes" vote on health care reform.

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Health Care

Four Empty House Seats Mean Pelosi Only Needs 216 Votes to Pass Health Care

Brian Beutler | March 1, 2010, 11:03AM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Most of the time, the magic number for passing significant legislation in the House is 218--a simple majority of the lower chambers' 435 members. So that's the number House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is looking at to pass the Senate health care bill, right? Try 216.

Come March 8, when Rep. Nathan Deal's (R-GA) resignation goes into effect--and barring any surprises--there will be four vacancies in the U.S. House: Deal's seat, along with the seats of retired Reps. Robert Wexler (D-FL) and Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), and deceased Rep. John Murtha (D-PA).

The four empty seats brings the number of serving House members down to 431. Which means that--if everybody's present and voting, a health care bill can pass the House on a paper-thin 216-215 margin. That may sound like good news for Pelosi--and in some ways it is. But recall that all three of those Democrats--Wexler, Abercrombie, and Murtha--were "yes" votes. She needs two fewer votes than she'd need if the House was fully seated. But she's lost three.

HI-01

Hawaiian Special House Election Could Split Democratic Vote

Eric Kleefeld | December 14, 2009, 2:18PM

Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI)

The pending resignation of Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) presents a potential pitfall for Democrats: A special election in which the Dem vote could be split, handing a strongly blue seat to the Republicans.

Hawaii special elections for the House don't function according to the usual rules in other states, where candidates either compete in separate party primaries, or the parties select their candidates through committee meetings. Instead, a single-round election is held in which all the candidates appear on a single ballot, and the plurality-winner takes the whole thing.

Abercrombie was already running for governor, and three candidates were in the race to succeed him: Democrat Ed Case, who previously represented the state's other House seat; Democrat Colleen Hanabusa, the state Senate President; and Republican Charles Djou, a Honolulu city councilman.

With these three candidates all running in the special election, there could be split voter demographics no matter which way you look at it: two Democrats against one Republican (Djou); two men against one woman (Hanabusa); or two Asians against one white person (Case).

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Neil Abercrombie

Dem Congressman From Hawaii, Also Running For Governor, To Resign

Eric Kleefeld | December 11, 2009, 3:56PM

Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI)

Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), a candidate for Governor of Hawaii in 2010, is resigning from Congress.

Abercrombie said he is resigning in order to "allow someone to be elected who will carry on the work of this office." An effective date for his resignation has not yet been announced.

Democrats should probably hold on to this district pretty easily, in heavily Democratic Hawaii. The district voted 55%-39% for Al Gore in 2000, 52%-47% for John Kerry in 2004 -- and then for Barack Obama by a whopping 70%-28% in 2008.

Two Democrats and one Republican were already running for the open seat, and could potentially be running in the special election: Former Rep. Ed Case and state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa on the Democratic side, and Republican Honolulu city councilman Charles Djou.

Late Update: Those three candidates are officially in. Also, we got this comment from Stephanie Lundberg, press secretary for House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), on the timing of Abercrombie's resignation: "It is our understanding that Rep. Abercrombie will be present to take the vote on final health reform legislation."