Icons die hard. With an absurdly small margin of just 1,769 votes, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz beat U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa for the Democratic nomination for the open Hawaii seat in the U.S. Senate.

That tiny total, barring a last-minute challenge, still adds up to a total victory for Schatz and a big signal that politics in Hawaii has changed.

If Hawaii political experience can be measured by how much time was spent behind the koa doors, either making or participating in the state’s big decisions, then Hanabusa, as a strong legislative leader, gets the nod.

But, Schatz’s position as the sitting U.S. senator by virtue of his appointment by Gov. Neil Abercrombie showed that possession was nine-tenths of the win.

Hanabusa’s inability to turn out enough supporters of the late U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye, both among Hawaii voters and Washington power centers, allowed Schatz to move in.

In Inouye’s world of campaign politics, debts were incurred and paid, relationships had consequences and politicians knew that crossing The Senator was just not done.

Inouye’s last Democratic primary showed him winning with 198,711 votes. His more than five decades representing Hawaii in Washington meant he was able to help and sponsor many people, who in turn would help others at Inouye’s behest.

"I worked for the senator" was a way of introduction that meant a lot in Hawaii.

Hanabusa and her campaign staff, including Inouye political intimates such as his widow, Irene Hirano, Inouye chief of staff Jennifer Sabas and financier Walter Dods, had hoped that those relationships would remain alive despite Inouye’s death.

The fact that Inouye wrote Abercrombie asking that Hanabusa be appointed to his position was not the point; the point was that it was the Inouye branch of the Democratic Party asking.

Inouye’s death meant that branch had no support and was left on its own.

Schatz’s realpolitik campaign memo last year essentially spelled out that with Inouye gone, the rules were changing.

"The Hanabusa campaign believed it would inherit the lion’s share of Hawaii’s Democratic campaign infrastructure, mostly in terms of local and national fundraising operations as well as a campaign team," the memo stated. "However, Senator Schatz has clearly demonstrated he is a superior and more sophisticated fundraiser both in Hawaii and on the mainland."

Left unstated in that boast is that the maxim, "all politics is local," does not mean today the same thing in Hawaii that it meant a week ago.

Schatz’s campaign reveled in its mainland and Washington, D.C., support. Inouye never got along with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and he would have been furious when it actively supported Schatz, helping with money and praise from scores of Senate leaders.

The D.C.-based, politically aggressive Progressive Change Campaign Committee opened a field office in Honolulu for Schatz.

The Howard Dean-founded group Democracy for America started phone-banking for Schatz from the mainland.

The final irony for the race was that it ended with a hurricane, shuttered polling places and a one-week election delay for the isolated Big Island Puna district.

By the time the storm came, however, the Inouye voters had already been blown away.

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