Ed Case’s problem is effrontery.

Somehow, his impudent if not audacious nature has led him to believe he could run for the U.S. Senate with or without the permission of the Democratic establishment. This, of course, is not the first time this sort of brashness has caused Case to be written up by the suits.

Back in 2006, Case ran an ill-considered campaign for the Senate seat against Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, who pretty much owns the moniker "beloved" and who trounced the former Democratic congressman in the primary.

Now with Akaka saying he will not run again, Case is free to go after the open seat along with U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono, former Gov. Linda Lingle and whomever else wants in.

Case has been polling. The polls have encouraged him to keep on doing what he is doing because Case’s polling says he is winning. More than Hirono and more than Lingle.

Case then had the chutzpah of announcing that his polls show that while he would beat Lingle in a general election, Lingle would get more votes than Hirono.

His conclusion is that Democrats would be smart to elect him in the primary because he is stronger than Hirono, and Hirono is weaker than Lingle.

That drove the Democrats nuts, causing them to call Case names.

"I don’t believe Mr. Case is being honest with this poll," said Guy Cecil, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

"It exaggerates support for him and for Lingle," Cecil said, adding that their polls show Hirono leading Lingle by 19 points.

The Democrats don’t want to even think that Lingle can win. Hawaii in the DSCC world is not supposed to even evoke the chance of a GOP senator.

Both the DSCC and the Star-Advertiser have polled the race and found Hirono the strongest Democrat against Lingle.

In the button-down world of Washington, the political arms of Congress are expected to not dabble in primary politics; in other words, they aren’t supposed to say they favor a particular Democrat or Republican.

Of course that’s not what they do. They try to line up who they think will be the biggest victor in the fall and help that person win the primary.

Last year in that weird Democrat-GOP cage match held to replace Neil Abercrombie, who resigned to run for governor, Case was pitted against both Democrat Colleen Hanabusa and Republican Charles Djou. The Grand Poobah in the room was the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which polled and found Case to be the strongest.

The DCCC was all over Honolulu leaking copies of their poll, winking, nudging and generally saying "Off the record, you guys are nuts not to go for Case."

This did not please Hawaii’s senior Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, an even grander Grand Poobah. He liked Hanabusa, didn’t care for Case and convinced the DCCC to go trash Republicans, not Democrats.

Today Case is saying that if the Democrats want to successfully keep two Democrats in the Senate, they should seriously think about their nominee’s viability. Lingle, after all, is a skilled opponent.

"If Hirono is the nominee, Republican money is going to absolutely flood Hawaii," Case says, discounting the GOP campaign blitz if he wins the primary.

Asked if he thinks the DSCC will continue to make suggestions on how he and Hawaii should run its primary campaign, Case laughed and said: "I expect to have a continuing and ongoing, lengthy dialogue."

With the primary a year away, polls are mostly irrelevant — but Democrats already know that next year, everyone is playing for keeps.