Hanabusa, Djou square off again, on HPR tonight

The spotlight of Hawaii elections shifts tonight to the 1st Congressional District, where Colleen Hanabusa and Charles Djou are in a bit of a rematch.

Democratic incumbent Hanabusa and Djou, the Republican who held the seat for a few months after a special election when Mazie Hirono pulled up stakes to run for Senate, will be debating on Hawaii Public Radio 2 (89.3 FM) at 7 tonight.

Does this sound familiar? Of course it does. This pair battled it out for the same seat only two years ago. Everything old is new again.

Going nuts over nuts grown in Hawaii

The actor Christopher Guest, in the 2000 film "Best in Show," played a character who "used to be able to name every nut that there was … I’d say, ‘Peanut. Hazelnut. Cashew nut. (pause) Macadamia nut.’"

He made it sound like these nuts don’t belong together.

But the state Department of Agriculture has a more intriguing idea. It has taken an interest in promoting cashew nuts as a commercial crop for Hawaii ("State pushes the cashew as cash crop," Star-Advertiser, Sept. 23). It’s an idea worth exploring. The cashew hardy, popular and commands a good price, although not as high as the macadamia.

It’s more difficult, though, to imagine the cashew having the exotic caché of the Hawaiian macadamia nut.