In an almost bizarre announcement, KITV is reporting that the Democratic National Committee and the Bush-Cheney Campaign will be buying TV commercials in Hawai’i in the final week before the election. Ads could appear as early as tomorrow.

According to Wikipedia, Hawai’i has voted for the Democratic presidential candidate every election since 1998, and has only voted Republican twice since statehood: for Nixon in 1972, and for Reagan in 1984. (Both were landslide victories for the respective candidates, in terms of electoral votes.)

Normally, Hawai’i is one of the most ignored states during election season. It’s the most isolated land mass on Earth, meaning it costs a lot of money to fly here, and it takes a big slice of time out of a campaign schedule that could better be spent in the lower 48 states. As a result, the only ads we see for President are on the national cable news channels.

However, the Honolulu Advertiser has calculated that (given an election sans Florida-style problems) there is a 1.5% chance that Kerry and Bush could be tied for electoral votes, compared with a 1.4% chance of the electoral votes being what they were in 2000. Numbers like this, combined with polls that say Hawai’i’s electoral votes are locked in a statistical dead heat, mean that Hawai’i’s four electoral votes have suddenly become crucial.

Since I’ve already cast my vote by absentee ballot, I have the liberty to sit back and watch with fascination at how the numbers will turn out. 2004 is going to be another close year.

If you’re living in the United States, you may have watched an episode or two of the new NBC crime drama Hawaii. In my humble but informed opinion, it’s a lousy copycat of all the other crime shows on TV.

Hawai’i’s primary industry is tourism, and like a Disney theme park, the reality of day-to-day life is hidden by aggresive marketing by both the government and private industry. That’s fine, but realize that Hawaii comes from the same glitter and gleam and doesn’t reflect reality.

Sure, a news anchor of the local NBC affiliate got a cameo and there’s some pretty pictures of the palm trees and street signs, but it really didn’t remind me much of home. Trust me, the island I live on does not look like you’re wearing orange sunglasses all day and night.

If you want to see Hawai’i much closer to the way it actually is, catch the re-runs of Hawaii Five-0. It’s as much of a fiction as the newcomer, but somehow the plots are more realistic and the characters more believable – and if you’re into scenery, you can’t beat the fact that it’s incredibly easy to see where Steve McGarrett and company are catching the bad guys – my own back yard.

Sorry, NBC – not even close.

Aside: I’m baaack! (braces for the deluge of comment spam)

Image courtesy stock.xchng and Nathalie Beauvois.

Hawai’i was hit by a huge windstorm today. Gusts as high as 85 miles per hour were recorded. Trees and utility poles have been knocked down, stranding people on roads with no way of exiting. Some poles have actually fallen on cars.

Boats have been torn from their moorings, and docks have been destroyed. A local dinner cruise, the Star of Honolulu, was forced to return to port with the aid of a tugboat. Most other ships didn’t go out.

Electricity has been sporadic today, and as I write this, about 20,000 homes are still without power…whoops, make that 20,001 – good thing I’m on a laptop with a built-in battery . Being without power isn’t nearly as bad as the 95 people who have reported major roof damage to the Honolulu Fire Department, however.

The electric company and other services are treating this as a hurricane, with their entire staff recalled and on the job. It’ll likely be a few days before everything is back to normal.

Electricity is going on and off (mostly off). I’m posting via dial-up.

See you all tomorrow.