With primary over, attention focused on three-way governor's race

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - With the primary election over, it's now a three-way race for governor. And some experts believe the race is closer than recent polls suggest.

In the latest Hawaii News Now/Honolulu Star-Advertiser Hawaii Poll, Republican Duke Aiona is the front-runner in a three-way race with 41 percent of the vote, followed by Democrat David Ige with 34 percent and independent Mufi Hannemann with just 15 percent.

But political analyst Dan Boylan believes Hannemann will do much better than 15 percent.

"I could see all three candidates pulling a reasonable vote, a 30 percent vote," said Boylan.

The last time an independent made a major run at the governor's office was 1994, when Frank Fasi resigned as Honolulu mayor to run against Democrat Ben Cayetano and Republican Pat Saiki.

Cayetano won that election with just 37 percent of the vote.

Aiona believes Hannemann will take voters away from Ige.

"In this case, Mufi is not Frank Fasi. Mufi Hannemann is a Democrat that's not happy with his party," Aiona said.

Aiona believes voter turnout will be low and for that reason his campaign is focusing on getting his supporters to show up on election day.

"You know the primary has a 41 percent voter turnout. The second lowest I believe in state history," he said.

"I believe the general is going to be the same way so what does that mean? You gotta get your votes out."

Meanwhile, Hannemann -- who was last in and did little advertising before the primary -- said his campaign is out to win the race, not play the role of spoiler.

He's banking on a higher voter turnout in November. He says general elections tend to attract 100,000 more voters and he thinks most will vote independent.

"It's a whole new ball game, This is a totally, different dynamic that will occur now in the general election," he said.

We reached out to David Ige but he was not available.

The election is still two-and-a half months away -- plenty of time for the candidates to get the word out.

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