POLITICO: DCCC to 're-evaluate' Hawaii special

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is re-evaluating whether to continue to spend money in this month’s Hawaii special election, Chairman Chris Van Hollen told POLITICO Thursday.

With former Democratic Rep. Ed Case and Democratic state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa splitting the Democratic vote against Republican Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou, Van Hollen said the committee recognized challenges to winning the race.

Asked if the committee would continue to spend money in the 1st District special election, Van Hollen responded: “We’ll have to re-evaluate based on the situation. The Democrats haven’t been able to come together and resolve this issue. Right now, it’s extremely difficult. So right now, we’ll have to re-evaluate that.”

A Honolulu Advertiser poll released May 2 showed Djou picking up 36 percent of the vote, with Case at 28 percent an Hanabusa at 22 percent.

The DCCC has spent over $243,000 on TV ads blasting Djou.

“I think you’ve got a very difficult situation. In that special election you’ve got three candidates – two of them Democrats,” said Van Hollen. “It’s very clear they’re splitting the vote. We’ve worked very hard to get that resolved, and unfortunately the Hawaii Democratic Party has not been able to sort that out. So that is what it is. All I can say about that is – regardless of what happens – right now, it’s extremely challenging, given the lineup. So it would be a different situation in November, obviously.”

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KITV: Congressional Democrats May Abandon Hawaii Race

ADVERTISER: Give Hanabusa credit for hanging tough

One senior Democratic official complained to Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post that Sens. Dan Inouye and Dan Akaka, who firmly back Hanabusa, are "allowing local politics to trump national Democratic interests."

To which we reply: So what?

ADV: Congress candidate Hanabusa a power player in Hawaii politics (Inouye uses his mouthpiece to pen an answer to the DCCC)

ADV: National group may stop state ads

SB: National groups annoy local Dems

Frustrated by a divided local party, national Democratic groups that have spent more than $300,000 on ads and phone calls in attempts to weaken Republican Charles Djou's campaign for Congress appear ready to pull out of the battle.

"Good!" said state Democratic Party Chairman Dante Carpenter when told of the news.