In a performance worthy of the excruciatingly slow decision-making process of former Mayor Mufi Hannemann, Gov. Linda Lingle is toying with a run for the U.S. Senate in 2012.

"I will likely take a look at the 2012 Senate race here in Hawaii. You know that is when the seat comes up. Sen. Daniel Akaka (a Democrat) would have to run again in 2012 … So I will take a serious look at that office at that time, and depending on where the public is and what they feel about me at the time.

"It is something that would interest me," Lingle said in a recent television interview.

Her fans on talk radio routinely preface their questions with a statement of support of her candidacy. Lingle doesn’t discourage the speculation.

No Hawaii governor gets out of office without a plunge in popularity and Lingle is not immune from the "blame it on the governor" syndrome.

She is now still at 44 percent job approval, according to new polling, which is a tiny recovery from a low of 40 percent approval because of the fallout from the school furloughs. Still, Lingle remains one of Hawaii’s most potent politicians.

The best example of her political power is the 1998 primary election, when she faced a challenge from the late former Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi. In the primary, Lingle so demolished Fasi that she took more votes in the GOP than former Gov. Ben Cayetano had in his primary.

Yes, in September 1998, more people voted in the GOP primary than in the Democratic contest.

Lingle is also the $6 million woman. In 2006, she closed out her victorious campaign for reelection with a record-setting $6.7 million raised in contributions and interest on her campaign funds.

This is the sort of personal political star power that Lingle is rightly thinking about lending to the national GOP.

"I will likely be involved with Republican politics on a national level in the presidential race in 2012," Lingle recently said.

If that all isn’t enough of a rosy future for Lingle, there is a can’t-miss book awaiting her authorship.

A new national survey reports that Lingle has the nation’s best gubernatorial BMI, or body mass index score.

The survey was done by a weight-loss firm that said it checked with all 50 governors and Lingle’s BMI of 20.7 is the nation’s lowest. The highest, and listed as morbidly obese, is New Jersey’s Chris Christie, with a BMI of 43.2.

Two years ago GOP presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee wrote a book about how he lost 105 pounds in 10 months.

Huckabee’s book did better than his race for president, but who knows where the "Lingle Hawaii Diet" book would take her.