I hope this isn’t an indication of things to come!

This notice to candidates was copied this morning directly from the “Candidates” page on the Office of Elections web site:

Actually, I think candidate filing begins this coming Monday, February 1. Will there be a rush of early filers?

In any case, they’ll soon be off and running.

Hey, it looks like candidates are making more use of the preemptive press release.

The Honolulu Advertiser reported Friday evening that Honolulu Managing Director Kirk Caldwell has raised $327,928 towards a potential mayoral campaign.

The Advertiser also reported on Thursday evening that Senate President Colleen Hanabusa raised $252,812 for her 1st Congressional District race during the last three months of 2009.

Based on the lack of detail in these stories, I would have to guess that copies of the candidates actual reports were not immediately available. If the documents were available, then they were just ignored. That would be more troubling.

As of this morning, Caldwell’s campaign report has not shown up in the Campaign Spending Commission’s online reporting system.

Hanabusa’s report to the FEC was filed yesterday.

You can see how the preemptive press release strategy works. Put out a favorable press release that touts overall fundraising without pesky details that could raise problems (special interest money, etc). If they’re lucky, when actual reports are made public, all those details (their major contributors, etc) will go unreported because these early stories have already reported overall results. No need to get mired in specifics. And if there is another round of reporting as documents become available, these candidates will have already gotten fluff coverage and nice headlines recognizing their fundraising.

Win, win! For the candidates, that is.

In the crowded field for the Democratic nomination for Lt. Governor, data is still coming in. Here’s how the latest fundraising reports for the 2nd half of 2009 shape up so far:

Berg–raised $900. Year end surplus: $1,881.62
Bunda–has not filed.
Hooser–has not filed.
Karamatsu–has not filed.
Sakamoto–raised $6,438.16. Year end surplus: $236,078.90
Schatz–raised $120,531.72. Year end surplus: $209,478.56