Not everything stays in Vegas

Gov. Neil Abercrombie was a featured speaker this week at the annual convention of the United Association, a union of plumbers, pipefitters, welders and other technicians that gathered at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel. The program listed a star-studded roundup of pro-labor speakers, including AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka and political strategist James Carville. Today it’s supposed to be U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis.

Wonder what they would have thought had they known of the labor disputes Abercrombie is having on the home front, far away? It all seemed oddly reminiscent of when Gov. Linda Lingle hit the campaign trail for John McCain and was talking smack about hometown candidate Barack Obama in distant Pennsylvania.

The union provided a transcript of his remarks, including this part about the need to support public works: "This is a question of values. People say, ‘Oh, no, this is a budget question. … It’s not about budgets, it’s about values."

They say what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Not this time.

Like Elvis said, it’s ‘Blue Hawaii’

Hawaii is the bluest state in the nation, and we’re not talking about the color of the surrounding sea.

The Aloha State has the largest advantage for the Democratic Party over the Republican Party among all states.

Gallup Poll interviews of more than 170,000 adults around the country found that 52 percent of those in Hawaii are Democrats or lean that way, and only 24 percent lean or belong to the GOP.

Utah is the reddest state, with 27 percent Democratic, 58 percent Republican.