ed case drops out of hawaii congressional race

Over the weekend, I received the news from AAA-Fund that former Rep. Ed Case, who recently finished third in a House special election for Hawaii's 1st Congressional District, will not be running in November against newly elected GOP Rep. Charles Djou: Ed Case drops out of Hawaii race. This news pretty much leaves things wide open for Democrat Colleen Hanabusa:

In an e-mail to supporters Sunday afternoon titled, "Heart Says Yes, Head Says No," Case announced that, "today I'm withdrawing my candidacy for the U. S. House of Representatives from Hawai'i's great First District for the upcoming 112th Congress."

The announcement came one week after Case and state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa split the Democratic vote in the May 22 special election for the Honolulu-based seat former Democratic Rep. Neil Abercrombie vacated to run for governor. Case finished in third place, an unexpected outcome for the former Democratic congressman.

Case, who faced fierce opposition during the campaign from the state Democratic establishment, initially said after the loss that he planned to run for the Democratic nomination for the full term. But Case told supporters Sunday that, "My heart tells me to stay in this fight, but my head says this has become the wrong fight."

Hanabusa has said she plans to run in the September Democratic primary.

Case had drawn support from the national Democratic Party in the special election, splitting the party vote between the two Democratic candidates, but his withdrawal will likely put the national and state parties squarely behind Hanabusa in November's race. More here: Ex-congressman won't run again for Hawaii seat.