Former Governor Linda Lingle made official what's been speculated since last year - she's running for U.S. Senate.
It's a race for Senator Akaka's seat that already has national attention with the party control of senate hanging in the balance in races across the country. Lingle says she's ready to raise an unheard of sum in a Hawaii election - $8 million to $10 million.
After a brief time out of the political spotlight since ending her gubernatorial term in December, Linda Lingle is back, this time vying for Senate. She addressed a business group at the Pacific Club about why.
"Having a Republican representing us in the U.S. Senate is critically important for Hawaii. We want to have a foot in both camps," Lingle says.
She talked about key issues of the economy, requiring a jobs impact statement before any federal regulations can go into effect, Asia-Pacific Security and the importance of tourism on a nationwide level.
Lingle chose the state's former Adjutant General Robert Lee as her campaign manager - someone who says he never even belonged to a party before, but who Lingle says is well respected, strategic and unrattled under pressure.
"She specifically wanted someone not involved in politics before to kind of view things differently," said Lee.
Former state lawmaker John Carroll will be her contender in the Republican primary. In a statement he said "I look forward to debating Linda on the issues that are important to Hawaii's Republicans."
Ed Case and Mazie Hirono are squaring off on the Democratic ticket but each of them had Lingle largely in their sights as she formally entered the race.
"The values of the far-right Washington that Linda wants to join are simply not Hawaii's values, and they're not the country's values," Case said.
Lingle says she expects to raise between $8 million and $10 million for the campaign, millions more than her already state-record-breaking run for re-election for governor.
"We will not be raising $8 million to $10 million I can assure you of that. We're going to be outraised and outspent throughout this election. That's the nature of my campaigns, but we have incredible momentum at the grassroots," Case said.
The other high-profile candidates for the seat make this race largely a repeat of the 2000 gubernatorial lineup.
Hirono nudged out Case in then Democratic primary, Lingle beat Hirono in the general election.
