Not a whole lot of surprises in yesterday’s election except perhaps the extremely low voter turnout.

Only about 1/3 of registered voters turned out, and the State Data Book estimates that perhaps 2/3 of those over age 18 are registered to vote. So even a majority of voters in the primary only represents slightly more than 1/5 of the population.

The low turnout probably doomed Ron Menor’s re-election bid.

Angel Pilago appears to have put Lorraine Inouye out to pasture, edging ahead of her for the runner-up spot in the race for Big Island mayor with a handful of precincts not yet reporting. Inouye gave up her Senate seat to make this run.

JoAnn Yukimura will go into a runoff for Kauai mayor, although she was a big step behind the front-runner.

Mayor Hannemann fell just a fraction short of the 50% + 1 he needed to avoid a runoff, despite those recent polls showing an 80 percent approval rating. Does that make him vulnerable? I doubt it.

Rep. Kyle Yamashita turned back a challenge by Summer Star, 55.2% to 41.2% in District 12 on Maui. James Tokioka beat out “blank votes” by a similar margin (58-41) and Rep. Roland Sagum, running unopposed, just barely beat the blank votes (51.9 – 48.1).

That’s one problem. There are just very few seriously contested races, the kind that grab public attention and generate enthusiasm.

Well, what do you know? The Advertiser’s Robbie Dingeman reports today:

More travel companies in Hawai’i are reaching out to the gay and lesbian travel visitors at a time when the industry is looking for fresh ideas to deal with a decline in tourism.

Just what I thought a while back when suggesting that the legislature needs to look at gay marriage as an economic stimulus issue rather than a religious/moral issue.

Listening…I found this recent NPR interview with historian Andrew J. Bacevich quite interesting. He argues that the U.S. doesn’t need a bigger military, it really needs a smaller foreign policy. Bacevich points to a string of totally unrealistic foreign policy goals that are wholly beyond the ability of the U.S. or any country to attain. Those goals need to be questioned and then abandoned before we can craft a realistic foreign policy stance. Anyway, it’s worth a listen.

Reading…How about this one from the other side of the world, “Why mongrels beat pedigree dogs“…And thanks to HorsesAss.org, a Seattle blog, for reminding us John McCain was one of the “Keating Five” who happily did his best to prevent regulators from cracking down on one of his major contributors during the savings and loan meltdown and ensuing scandal back in the late 1980s. That whole corrupt episode is probably something McCain would rather not have the public reminded of right now as we face paying for another publicly funded bailout of the financial establishment.

And should we recall that our own Sen. Dan Inouye was there as a key defender of the Five?

Finally, a view of this morning’s sunrise as seen from the beach in Kaaawa.