(A month-old post from Maui)

I've never been in Hawaii during election season before. They have method of campaigning that is unique and, in my opinion, dumb.

All over the island, we saw groups of people standing along the road, holding up signs with the name of their preferred candidate, smiling and waving at the traffic as it goes by.

All right, I guess it's a cheap way of promoting name recognition (assuming that the smilers and wavers have nothing better to do with their time), but is it really an effective technique in persuading people to vote for that candidate? I can't imagine basing my vote in any way on how many boosters of a candidate I saw along the road, or how vigorously they propelled their arms in greeting, or how pearly white their teeth were.

I don't know how I could possibly know what the candidate's position was on any issue I cared about, or how likely he was to keep his promises, based on how many (literally) glad handers were standing on the roadside on his behalf. And I would fear to live in a state in which the electorate was so mindless as to be influenced by such meaningless things.

I wonder if it's a tradition from the days in which that was the main way of campaigning among the Hawaiian villagers and field workers. It may be that now, while few think that it has any positive effect, its absence might have a negative one: "Look at Johnny Hasagawa--he has no supporters willing to show their support for him." It's perhaps become an arms race from which no one can now back down, regardless of how pointless it is.

"Progressives" are fond of saying that only ignorant hicks and uneducated bigots could vote Republican--Democrats are more compassionate and better informed. A one-party Democratic state, in which people are apparently expected to vote based on how many poor schmucks they can get to stand on the roadside in the tropical heat and humidity, and wave and smile, would seem to belie that notion.

When I moved to Maryland from NJ, I saw something close to this Hawaiian phenomenon. Here candidates, at least for local offices, will stand by the side of the road and wave at passing motorists. I've heard in the past even people running for governor have done it.

Some years ago there was a battle for the Democratic nomination for a county council seat. One candidate was a patent attorney and the former mayor of Greenbelt. The other was a retired county cop. The first man was by far the most preferable -- especially since winning the Democratic primary in Maryland is almost the same as winning the election. The cop stood by the side of the road waving. I saw him at least weekly -- and dubbed him the "Waving Wonder." Waving Wonder won the primary. We got lucky, though. The Republicans nominated a truly superior candidate and she won!