NYTimes Editorial: Lingle Deserves Credit for Creativity

NYT (excerpts):  Starting last week, channel surfers in Hawaii found something new tucked between Fox News Channel and CNN Headline News. It’s Channel 110, the one place on cable for all the video you could ever want to watch about Linda Lingle, a former Hawaii governor and current Republican candidate for United States Senate.

Her campaign says this in an American electoral first — a candidate with her own TV channel — though viewers expecting some creative programming are going to be disappointed. Visitors to Channel 110 will be able to see one recurring campaign video and then choose among a dozen other short on-demand videos, some also available on the candidate’s Web site, Lingle2012.com. They show Ms. Lingle sharing her views in a low-key and often nebulous manner. She explains that she is a good listener and wants to become the nation’s “point person” on tourism and to relieve the cruise-ship industry of burdensome environmental regulations.

Ms. Lingle deserves credit for creativity in trying to get noticed by voters in Hawaii, a state with abysmal voter turnout and deep election inertia. Its senior senator, Daniel Inouye, was elected in 1962. Senator Daniel Akaka has served since 1990. His retirement has opened the seat and given Hawaii something it hasn’t had in decades, a real Senate race.

read … The Linda Lingle Channel