Critics call Alaska’s Rep. Don Young a "crotchety, cantankerous, conservative curmudgeon," but if Rep. Mazie Hirono becomes Hawaii’s next U.S. senator, her "Thank You" card to Young will be addressed "To the man who helped me win."

The reason Hirono cares about Young is because on Tuesday he endorsed Hirono’s primary election in a Web video that is being called "cloyingly cute bipartisanship," by the Huffington Post while other outlets call it "highly unusual" and "rarely seen."

Congressional observers who have followed Young during his 20 terms in Washington say that while Young can be controversial, he has never gone so far as to endorse a Democrat.

In his Hirono endorsement, Young urges Hirono for the Senate post.

"Here’s what’s important. Hawaii, if you’re looking for a United States senator who doesn’t just talk about ‘bipartisanship,’ but actually knows how to work with both Republicans and Democrats to get things done — Mazie Hirono will be that senator," Young says.

Later Young’s office noted that the endorsement was just for the primary election and Young would not have a position in the general, but, of course, the image of Hirono as the bipartisan dealmaker had already been forged.

This one 90-second spot, which the Hirono campaign says will remain on the Internet and not be made into a TV commercial, is the most important political ad this year.

If Hirono’s Democratic challenger, former Rep. Ed Case, had hoped to get elected because he was able to work with both Democrats and Republicans because he was more moderate, he has a new set of problems to solve.

He has to wonder how he rates against Hirono — who has just been endorsed by a conservative who once said, "Environmentalists are a socialist group of individuals that are the tool of the Democrat Party. I’m proud to say that they are my enemy. They are not Americans, never have been Americans, never will be Americans."

If Case has trouble, former Gov. Linda Lingle, already trailing both Hirono and Case in yesterday’s Star-Advertiser/Hawaii News Now public opinion poll, is blown out of the water in her attempt to be Hawaii’s bipartisan Republican.

The far-right blogs lit up this week denouncing Young, who was already on their watch list after he crossed swords with then Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Maybe Young was paying back Lingle for supporting Palin’s vice presidential bid during the 2008 presidential race, but now Young is already being accused of blowing the GOP’s chance of taking over the Senate.

So far Lingle has been too little, too late to move the needle of public opinion. If she wanted to prove her bipartisan bona fides, she should have acted when former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu recently attacked President Barack Obama.

Sununu told reporters during a call arranged by the Mitt Romney campaign that "I wish this president would learn how to be an American.”

A TV spot of Lingle calling Sununu and telling him "John, we served as governors together and we agree on a lot of things, but you have insulted the people of the state I love, by questioning whether Barack Obama is an American and I want an apology."

Instead Lingle had her campaign manager say that Alaska’s Young is no one to rely on for voting advice, "who even Mazie’s fellow Democrats have criticized on a range of ethics and spending issues."

Meanwhile, we are left with Mazie playfully poking Don on the arm when he complains about former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The Huffington Post description of the spot notes that it "spends 30 seconds descending into aging, affectionate quarreling couple territory."

"Don, sometimes you really are a handful," Hirono says on tape.

Hirono is right, and that spot might be too much for either Case or Lingle to handle.

———

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