This is a followup to my post from Monday where I made my predictions for the Hawaii Caucuses: "Hawaii Caucus Predictions"

In that post, I made specific predictions of the delegate count by Congressional District, state-wide and for PLEO delegate slots. I also said:

"Our precinct caucus meetings will be OVERWHELMED by the turnout on Tuesday."

Well, the largest turnout we had ever had for a Hawaii Democratic presidential precinct caucus election was in 1988, when Jesse Jackson did pretty well against Michael Dukakis and the turnout was just under 5,000 voters. This time, the turnout was about 37,4000 voters-- over SEVEN TIMES our previous record!

Here are the preliminary results from the Hawaii Caucuses:

The eyes of the blogosphere, the nation and much of the world are turning to Hawaii as the Tuesday caucuses approach. I*n addition to stringers for national media, there are television crews arriving from Asian and European networks. Indeed, "the whole world is watching."

It is difficult for the local Democratic Party to predict the turnout. A few months ago, in the planning for the caucuses, they were assuming the turn out would be double the 2004 turnout. Meeting locations were reserved based upon what seemed to be a reasonable estimate at the time.

[The diary continues after the jump, where I will make my predictions of the Hawaii results.]

I understand why the DNC needed to punish Florida and Michigan for moving their primaries forward and disrupting the primary schedule, but I was shocked when they first began speaking of not recognizing ANY delegates from those states. I had assumed that the DNC had just adopted that stance as their original, hardline bargaining position. FROM WHICH THEY WOULD COMPROMISE!

Now Hillary is pandering to the Florida and Michigan voters, claiming (quite opportunistically) that she has their interests at heart. The DNC created this opening with their heavy-handed, hard-headed decision. Following John Stewart, I cannot fathom why the DNC would risk alienating voters AND PARTY OPERATIVES in such key states as Florida and Michigan! Florida will be close enough without the DNC taking extra steps to piss off the voters there.

Ian Lind has exposed the FLOOD of money being spent by the National Association of Realtors to elect Ed Case. The Realtors spent $602,017 on Case in August alone! This is WAY BEYOND a matter of him getting some donations from a PAC, which would have been limited to $5000.

How can Ed (and his supporters!) denounce Danny Akaka for getting PAC contributions when the Realtors are flooding the election with this kind of "independent" expenditure?

I do not have to fake my shock and outrage at this effort to buy the election. I do find it interesting that it takes a lone wolf, ex-reporter, ex-Common Cause executive director to dig up this information instead of the paid mainstream journalists from the two papers. Fortunately, Ian's blog is one of the most visited blogs in Hawaii. Let's see how long it takes for the paid journalists to take up the story.

As activists in our communities, we are each day being pulled in different directions and struggling to keep our priorities straight. For those of us who believe it is important to play a role in trying to determine what laws are written and by whom, the election cycle adds yet more demands to our busy lives.

I have decided to make the re-election of Senator Daniel Akaka a priority for this election year. Akaka has been a consistent voice in opposing the worst excesses of the Bush Administration. The war in Iraq, which may be expanding into a regional war, must be stopped. Congress is one front and elections are one means for bringing that war to an end. But so are street actions. And individual acts of conscience, as Cindy Sheehan and others have shown us.

Hawaii-born Lt. Ehren Watada, as you probably know, has refused orders to deploy to Iraq and is facing a court-martial. I have heard from a number of liberals that they are sympathetic to Watada's motives, but he joined the military of his own free will and soldiers cannot be allowed to "pick and choose" which orders to obey.

Written 1952, from the classic WWII POW movie Stalag 17, :

SCHULTZ:

And gentlemen! You will not complain
        to the Geneva Man. Because I have
        orders from the Kommandant to report
        everyone who complains.

From Congressman Ed Case, born 1952, after touring GITMO:

"GTMO is being operated well and operated in a way that is necessary for the safety and security of our country," said Case (D-Hawaii) yesterday in a conference call from Washington, D.C.

 Case was part of a 16-member U.S. House delegation that toured the facility during the weekend.

 He said he had observed the grounds of five different camps, witnessed interrogations behind a one-way mirror and talked to doctors at the hospital.

 Interrogations were "nowhere close to abusive," Case said.

There has been increasing attention here on the Hawaii Senate race betwen incumbent Sen. Daniel Akaka and his challenger, U.S. Congressman Ed Case.

Today Rasmussen has released the results of a poll showing Case closing the gap and within 2 points of defeating Akaka, 45%-47%.

Several DailyKos blogger, including Kos, have noted the parallels between the the Hawaii fight and the Lamont-Lieberman battle in Connecticut, with the difference that the liberal candidate is the incumbent, while Case, the challenger, is a strong supporter of Joe Lieberman.

Ed Case has continued to attack Senator Akaka as a member of the political "fringe." On Wednesday, at a luncheon sponsored by the Hawaii Publishers Association, Ed said of Akaka:

I am a moderate: not far left or far right. I reject the politics of extremism. I believe in moderate and reasoned approaches to tough issues like Iraq, or Social Security, or the tax-spending balance.

Yes, part of our Hawaii constitutes the far left 1% of America's political spectrum that Sen. Akaka represents, and they and their national counterparts are working for him, hard.

Ed Case may have just hurt his candidacy. He is quoted in the rightwing blog, Hawaii Reporter. Speaking of Senator Akaka and the Republican candidate, Jerry Coffee, Ed said:

"Voters can choose between extremes on both sides or someone who is more moderate and in the middle of the political spectrum," Case says.

If this statement gets picked up, it is likely to hurt him in two ways.