The Wallet-to-Wallet Chasm

After eight years in the state House, Case ran and lost a gubernatorial primary to then-Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono (D) in September 2002.

A week later, Rep. Patsy Mink (D) died but won the November election posthumously. A special election was called for late November to fill the remaining five weeks of her term. Mink's husband, John, was the front-runner, but Case refused to bow out and eventually defeated him in the special election.

Although not the political legend Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) is, Akaka retains a reservoir of good will in the party establishment in Hawaii and in Washington.

He also has a financial edge over Case. At the end of October, Akaka had $591,000 in the bank, compared with Case's $174,000.

And, if Elected, They Won't Serve . . .

If you did not know any better, you would have to conclude there is not much political ambition in the White House anymore. President Bush says the first lady ain't running. Laura Bush says Condoleezza Rice ain't running. And Vice President Cheney says, again, that he ain't running.

Denials of interest all around kept echoing last week as Cheney dialed up conservative radio show hosts and tried to be as Shermanesque as he could that he has no interest in succeeding the boss in 2008.

Bush, meanwhile, told an audience in Loudoun County that his wife would "never" run for Senate, as another recent first lady did, and added for good measure, "I'm not going to ask her. Never."

Then Laura Bush chimed in, telling the BBC in somewhat less certain terms that it was "absolutely unlikely" she would run.

She was more definitive about her friend, Rice, though, who has been talked up for president by many Republicans, including the first lady.

"I think Condi's fully decided she's not going to run," Laura Bush said. "In fact, every time I endorse her, she probably gets a lot of letters from people who are 'Condinistas,' as they call them. So she's going to make me start answering those letters, probably."

Cillizza is a staff writer for washingtonpost.com. He writes an online politics column, The Fix, that appears daily at www.washingtonpost.com/thefix.