Things must be hectic in Star-Bulletin owner David Black’s world these days as he moves ahead with simultaneous bids for the Honolulu Advertiser and the newspapers of CanWest Global Communications from his home base in Victoria.
The CanWest bidding is particularly incestuous, at least as reported by the Toronto Globe and Mail.
According to the G&M, Torstar Corp. and Black are both among the bidders for the CanWest newspapers.
Torstar is already a minority owner of Black Press with a 20% stake. And Torstar’s bid for CanWest “s believed to be backed by Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd.”, which is providing the financial muscle for Black’s purchase of Gannett’s Advertiser.
The Globe & Mail reported earlier that Black is probably getting financial backing from Platinum Equity LLC for his CanWest bid. Platinum teamed with Black for the purchase of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
With all the overlapping interests, it feels as confusing as the old Abbot & Costello “Who’s on first?” routine.
The Washington Post political blog, The Fix, has put the Hawaii 1st District Congressional race among “20 House races most likely to switch parties in the November election.”
Blogger Chris Cillizza writes:
Hawaii, however, is shaping up to be a major headache for Democrats for two reasons. First, Case and Hanabusa seem to be moving toward an all-out assault on one another with the likely result being a fractured Democratic party vote. Second, the winner-take-all nature of the special elections means that that sort of splintering of votes between two well-known commodities in the Democratic party could make Djou a winner if he can simply consolidate Republican votes and peel away a few Democratic-leaning independents. (All of the candidates run on a single ballot.)
A loss in a district as Democratic as Hawaii — it is, in fact, President Obama’s home district — would have an effect on Democratic elected officials similar to that of Sen. Scott Brown’s (R) victory in Massachusetts in January. That is to say, panic.
Here’s a list of the 1st District candidates who have filed so far.
And, for browsing, the list of candidates for all state and county offices. The list includes those who have taken out nominating papers but have not yet filed. This is a great list to tuck away for future reference because it contains contact information for all the potential candidates.