Tulsi Gabbard works the press

Not sure who’s going to be doing the real heavy lifting in D.C. during this post-Inouye era, but freshman U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard seems to be getting a lot of face time on TV.

There she was on Sunday’s "Meet the Press," along with Colorado’s GOP Congressman Cory Gardner, giving her take on the budget turbulence of recent weeks. Veteran politicos — Sens. Tom Coburn and Tim Kaine, and TV host Joe Scarborough, formerly of the U.S. House — were the clear old hands here.

But Gabbard got in her 2 cents, too. Among her talking points: Congress needs input on armed drones, and Medicare prescription spending should be reduced by enabling negotiations with drug companies.

Political inquiring minds have to be wondering just how Gabbard’s star turn on TV is going over with other members of Hawaii’s delegation.

Move over, we have more visitors

About Hawaii’s tourism future, and what he views as questionable policy to grow tourist spending over expanding hotel capacity, economist Paul Brewbaker says, "Over time, this leads to reputation effects. Then we stop (growing) in 2015. We never get any more people than we are getting and it’s forever."

It was Yogi Berra who famously said of Toots Shor’s restaurant in New York, "It’s so crowded nobody goes there anymore." But Brewbaker does not go quite that far. Instead, he advises that adding capacity in urban areas from Waikiki to downtown would alleviate some of Oahu’s price pressure and give the tourism industry elbow room.