When it comes to campaign donations, who comes out ahead in Hawaii’s contests for a U.S. Senate seat and the two U.S. House of Representative seats?

In a kukui (nut) shell: Democrat incumbents Sen. Daniel K. Inouye and Rep. Mazie Hirono are poised to crush all rivals. We know what Republican Rep. Charles Djou has raised, but the most recent figures for his likely Democratic opponent, Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, hadn’t been filed by the end of the day Thursday.

Based on available Federal Election Commission documents, however, some conclusions can be reached. Civil Beats takes a closer look at who’s backing whom, why and what it means.

The 1st District: Lawyers, Guns and Money

Two other Republicans and two other Democrats have pulled papers for the primary, as has one independent. Four of these congressional wannabes lost badly in the May 22 special election, so it’s clear the race for the 2nd Congressional District is between Djou and Hanabusa.

Djou’s individual donors include many familiar local names, many (though not all) long affiliated with the Republican Party.

The list includes PR queen Kitty Lagaretta, mortgage banker Nelson Oyadomari, engineering CEO Guy Ontai, Market City owner Marvin Fong (son of the late Sen. Hiram Fong), construction boss Frank Coluccio, restaurateur Roy Yamaguchi, Lingle advisor Linda Smith, Lingle-Aiona fundraiser Miriam Hellreich, developer Bert Kobayashi Jr., HMAA CEO John Henry Felix, developer Stanford Carr, developer Ian McNaughton, City Mill CEO Steven Ai, MidWeek columnist Gerry Coffee, former Honolulu Advertiser owner Thurston Twigg-Smith, car salesman Joe Nicolai, retired businessman Samuel Cooke, Charley’s Taxi president Dale Evans, real estate executive Michael Wood, Campbell Estate trustee Ron Zlatoper, and Djou’s mom Sue Djou.

Djou’s political action committee donors include a host of mainland groups whose ideological bent can be readily surmised — Republican Majority for Choice, Every Republican Is Crucial, the Committee for the Preservation of Capitalism, Invest in a Strong and Secure America, Free and Strong America, Freedom First, The Freedom Project, and Voice For Freedom.

PACs for Halliburton, Exxon Mobil, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co., the National Rifle Association, and the National Federation of Independent Business also gave to the young Republican.

Hanabusa’s individual donors list includes familiar names such as developer Jeff Stone, attorney Paul Alston, Democrat stalwart Amy Agbayani, developer Duncan MacNaughton (yep, he gave to Djou too — a common practice for wealthy folks), labor lobbyist John Radcliffe, Hawaiian Telcom executive John Komeiji, retired banker Walter Dods, insurance executive Colbert Matsumoto, Hawaii Superferry CEO Tom Fargo, Bishop Museum director Tim Johns, Queen’s Health System’s Arthur Ushijima, HECO exec Robbie Alm, Kamehameha Schools CEO Dee Jay Mailer, Outrigger Hotel CEO David Carey and his boss Richard Kelley, Inouye’s son Ken Inouye, and many individual contributions connected to EMILY’s List (it stands for Early Money Is Like Yeast).

Her PAC donors include the cream of Hawaii businesses such as Alexander & Baldwin, First Hawaiian Bank, Central Pacific Bank, Hawaiian Airlines, HMSA, Hawaiian Telcom, Matson shipping line, and lots and lots of labor unions. Lots.

Other PACS for Hanabusa that stand out include those formed by Inouye and Sen. Daniel Akaka, California Congressman Mike Honda, an Alaska Native corporation, the National Education Association, and Feminist Majority.

One other observation: Hanabusa, an attorney, has lots of lawyer friends. Djou, an Army reservist, has lots of military friends. Both get a lot of money from retired people. And both get a majority of their money from individuals — Djou 80 percent, Hanabusa 74 percent.

The 2nd District: Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Hirono was re-elected in 2008 with about 70 percent of the vote, with her nearest challenger, Republican Roger Evans, pulling in about 19 percent and the remainder of the vote going either to two independents or blank votes.

The incumbent faces no primary challenger (yet), but two independents and three Republicans are gunning to face her on Nov. 2. Of them, Republicans Ramsay Wharton, a former TV reporter, and John Willoughby, a Navy vet, appear to be the most viable opponents.

Unlike the top candidates in the 1st Congressional District, Hirono’s money is roughly evenly split between PACs (45 percent) and individuals (51 percent). The remainder comes from “other,” which isn’t explained on the FEC site. (It does not represent money from the candidate herself, however; Hirono has given Hirono zero dollars.)

Hirono’s PAC money is similar to Hanabusa’s — unions, developers, bankers, PACs named for people named Dan — but is heavy on transportation and aerospace groups. Probably just a coincidence that Hirono sits on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

Most of Willoughby’s money has come from the candidate himself, while the identity of the people behind Wharton’s modest donations are not detailed.

U.S. Senate: Cowboys and Indians

As of July 14, six days before the filing deadline, seven people have pulled papers to challenge the highly regarded eight-term incumbent. Two are Democrats, two are independents and three are Republicans, but only the name of Cam Cavasso, a former state legislator, may be familiar to voters.

It probably doesn’t matter. Cavasso lost to Inouye six years ago 73-20 percent. Libertarian Jeff Mallan got 1.2 percent and nonpartisan candidate Jim Brewer got 2.1 percent in that race, but that hasn’t stopped them from running again this year.

Inouye’s money is 3-to-1 individuals over PACs, according to the senator’s filing through March 31. A good many of these individuals do not live in Hawaii, and they include executives of the lobbying group that employees Inouye’s son, many people representing Indian tribes (Inouye sits on the Senate’s Committee on Indian Affairs), a former mayor of New Orleans, an investment banker with Goldman Sachs, the head of top D.C. law firm Patton Boggs, vice presidents of defense contractor Lockheed Martin, the president of defense contractor Northrop Grumman…

It’s a very long list — 130 pages. I stopped at page 42, which ended with yet another executive with Lockheed Martin. Probably just a coincidence that Inouye is chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Subcommittee on Defense.

Inouye’s PAC list was far more manageable, yet quite similar: Donations from Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Patton Boggs and Indian corporations, for example, but also HMSA, Matson, First Hawaiian Bank and Hawaiian Airlines.

Two fun items from Inouye’s list: PAC money from Major League Baseball and the National Beer Wholesalers Association.

None of Sen. Inouye’s opponents has filed any campaign donations with the Federal Election Commission as of this writing. Good luck, Cam.