The last time U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa saw the late U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, it was when Hawaii’s senior senator seriously started to plan the nuts and bolts of his succession.

There has been some political debate over whether Inouye actually directed a letter to be sent to Gov. Neil Abercrombie asking that according to state law, Abercrombie pick Hanabusa upon Inouye’s death.

When Inouye died on Dec. 17, 2012, a letter from his office had already been hand-carried to Abercrombie by two of the state’s top Democratic insiders, attorney Jeff Watanabe and financier Walter Dods.

The letter came up this month when Abercrombie, in a 90-minute interview with the Los Angeles Times, alternately said he understood Inouye wanted Hanabusa to succeed him while also questioning the Inouye letter.

"I received that letter, ostensibly coming from Sen. Inouye himself, a half an hour before he died in Washington, D.C., literally," Abercrombie said in the interview.

"Whether or not this could be construed as Sen. Inouye’s dying wish — let me put it this way — is problematic."

Instead of Hanabusa, Abercrombie named Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz to Inouye’s post.

After Abercrombie’s comments created another round of controversy, and Inouye’s widow called them "very hurtful," the governor apologized to the Inouye family.

For Hanabusa, who is running against Schatz in the Democratic primary, the last meeting with the ailing Inouye was a time for instruction.

She already knew that Inouye thought she would be the best person to succeed him because after she was elected to Congress in 2010, Inouye took her around the Capitol introducing her as "the person who will take my place."

"He wanted them to know he had high hopes for me and wanted me to be placed in the right position," Hanabusa said in an interview recalling their early December 2012 meeting.

"I had gone to lunch before with him, but this was the first time the senator allowed himself to be seen in wheelchair and with oxygen," Hanabusa said.

"The senator was always very careful about that. He’d walk onto the Senate floor or into the dining room, and not let people see him with oxygen. This time he made a point of saying he was taking oxygen."

Hanabusa said Inouye wanted to know what she was going to do because there was speculation that she would return to Honolulu to campaign against Abercrombie for the governorship.

"He asked me what I wanted and I said that is easy, I said my wish was that he lives to 140 and he and I would continue to serve in Washington," Hanabusa said.

"He said that’s not going to happen and I said, OK, 100, and he laughed and said, that’s also not going to happen; he said you better start getting ready."

Inouye knew that announcing retirement with two years left in the term renders one irrelevant in Washington politics, so no matter the plans, one has to say there’s a re-election campaign in place.

But, Inouye told Hanabusa, his campaign would turn into her campaign.

"He said to staff, ‘We are going to accept speaking engagements and Colleen will show up; we are going to fund-raise together," Hanabusa said.

"He said he will say he will run for re-election. And he said to me, you have to be ready and prepare, and then I never saw him after that; it was our last conversation," said Hanabusa.

Within a year, Schatz was running and securing endorsements from many of the same U.S. senators whom Inouye had introduced Hanabusa to as his successor.

Asked about that twist, Hanabusa said Inouye’s son, Ken, would quote his father: "Washington has a very short memory."

Hanabusa’s campaign is now hoping the Hawaii voter’s memory is stronger.

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