Thursday, June 3rd
Cam Cavasso (Facebook | Twitter | Website), a former Hawaii State Representative and small businessman from Oahu, has announced that he will challenge Senator Inouye in this upcoming November election. He challenged Senator Inouye before in 2004, garnering 20.2% of the vote, though it would appear that there was very little grassroots networking or major campaign efforts made. So why bother to challenge Senator Inouye again? He is convinced that the Djou upset is the first sign of a significant transformation across the state.
A little bit of personal background on him can be found on his website and here’s an excerpt from a Washington Post article during his 2004 bid against Inouye:
Cam Cavasso’s Hawaii roots go back to his great-grandfather, Francis Davey, a well-known Honolulu photographer in the 1890s whose work can be seen in Bishop Museum.
He graduated from the University of Colorado and served as a captain in the U.S. Army, where most of his active duty was in Germany.
Cavasso won three terms as a state representative, serving from 1984-1990. He also sought the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in 2002 but lost in the primary.
Cavasso is currently an agent with Mass Mutual Financial Group, a position he has held for the past 18 years. Cam is also the owner of Hydroseed Hawaii, a contracting company specializing in hydro mulching.
Cavasso and his wife, Tula, and have two sons and three daughters. They live in Waimanalo on their 6 and 1/2-acre turf farm.
Where does he stand on the issues? OnTheIssues.org rates him as “Moderately Conservative” and he describes himself as a “Constitutional Conservative” on his own website’s issues page. I have two concerns that he does not address and they are: the 2nd Amendment and National Security. I’m going to make the (hopefully) safe assumption that he is pro-2nd Amendment and that he believes in a strong national defense, based on his self description as a “Constitutional Conservative.”
What are his chances against Senator Inouye? If a generic Republican is fielded in an election where there are no major biases for one party or another, I’d say that candidate is as good as dead. But Cavasso brings in political experience and what appears to be a strong desire for victory. As a plus, it’s a Republican year, as evidenced by the victories of Charles Djou in HI-1, Scott Brown in MA, and Chris Christie in NJ. If he can get a strong grassroots network set up across the state and follow a “Djou-esque” pattern of campaigning, he may end up performing well at the polls. If he doesn’t get that grassroots network together, he can expect another 20.2% headed his way.
In conclusion, he is definitely putting forward a good starting effort for his campaign. Just go to his website and look at it. IT’S SPECTACULAR. I’m curious to see how much money he’ll be giving his own campaign and how much money he manages to raise, as he has not filed with the FEC yet. There is a passion in a lot of Hawaiians to see Republicans elected. The question is, can he stir up that base and harness that passion?
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