HONOLULU (AP) - Hawaii's vastly outnumbered Republicans are looking to make a comeback this election year, with GOP candidates running in almost every legislative district of the nation's second-most politically monolithic state.
Republicans are fielding candidates in all but three of 64 legislative seats up for grabs in November, and they hope to draw on voter discontent to make their first gains at the Hawaii Capitol since Gov. Linda Lingle was elected eight years ago.
It won't be easy. Democrats have run both the House and Senate since 1965, and they currently control nearly 90 percent of the Legislature.
The Hawaii Republican Party recruited candidates using radio and Internet ads stressing fiscal conservatism, anti-labor union sentiment and opposition to civil unions.
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