Now in his seventh decade, Ben Cayetano remains Hawaii’s most complicated political leader.

Some may hear the beat of a different drummer, but, at times, Cayetano hears an entirely different orchestra.

After 28 years in state office, Cayetano is now running for Honolulu mayor, saying there has to be a better way to manage Honolulu’s traffic.

Cayetano was always just a little different from the rest of the pack. Now in his campaign for mayor of Honolulu, Cayetano sets himself against almost all the established power centers in Hawaii.

It is one thing to say you are a rebel, but to say you will stop the $5.3 billion rail project vital to labor unions, much of Oahu’s commuters and Hawaii’s granddaddy of pork, U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, means you are the underdog.

Playing it safe, however, is not in the Cayetano DNA.

Back when he was in the Legislature during Sony Open week, Cayetano once rose on the nearly empty Senate chamber floor to castigate his golfing colleagues for their truancy, noting he was ready to "work, not golf."

In the Legislature during the time before computers, Cayetano kept a typewriter by his desk and would actually whirl around in his chair to type his own speeches and bill drafts.

During his eight years as lieutenant governor, Cayetano kept a lending library filled with the latest public policy books and after he finished them, he expected his staff to also read them.

His body of work as governor defines him as a truly transitional figure. When he left office in 2002, I noted that he would be remembered as "the first Hawaii governor to heed the call for a smaller, more efficient government."

His decision to run for mayor comes because of this long dissatisfaction with the city’s approach to rail.

"This is not the legacy I want left to future generations," Cayetano said at a news conference yesterday to announce his candidacy.

"It is irresponsible for us to burden them with huge debt and leave behind a city whose beauty is scarred by a wall of concrete snaking along its waterfront, destroying and disrespecting our ancient burial sites.

"Our future generations deserve better," Cayetano said.

Cayetano had originally hoped that former Senate buddy Sen. Clayton Hee would run, but after exploring the idea, Hee declined, despite Cayetano’s urging.

"I will support him and I believe he will win because he has always been a fiscal conservative," Hee said.

"I believe people are exhausted of government’s efforts to raise taxes and the city has more than a pocketful of fiscal challenges related to sewer disposal, water infrastructure and road pothole issues, not to mention rail … I will help him to every degree he wishes me to," Hee said.

Cayetano is a strong campaigner. Like most politicians who rise to become governor, Cayetano "gets it" with voters. Successful politicians just vibrate at the same frequency as their constituents. They might not lead as much as they reflect their voters.

So if Cayetano feels there is a great upheaval in support for rail, it would be foolish to write him off or dismiss it as the objections of a crank.

A campaign victory, however, will not be easy, or even likely. We live in the time of political action committees and I bet that rail’s vested interests already are working on a Super PAC to redefine rail and savage Cayetano.

Still, as one long-time Cayetano supporter told me, "Money alone does not decide the outcome of an election.

"Ben’s political IQ is probably three times greater than his opponents’ combined and could make a difference if people pay attention to the race and vote."

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.