A couple of things piqued our interest about a press release issued by former Hawaii resident and Illinois congressional hopeful Tammy Duckwoth‘s campaign on Thursday. 

The campaign described a fundraiser she attended in Honolulu as hosted by Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie, Sens. Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka and Reps. Mazie Hirono and Colleen Hanabusa. 

This caught our attention because both senators were in Washington all week. Still, there are plenty of events that senators would like to attend but can’t. So maybe the use of “hosted” wasn’t too misleading.

The campaign described Duckworth as having “gained the endorsements of the entire Hawaiian delegation and the Governor.” But we wondered about whether the delegation formally endorsed Duckworth. (And while forgivable from an out-of-town campaign, we couldn’t help but notice the imprecise reference to Hawaii’s delegation as “Hawaiian.”)

Here’s what Inouye’s spokesman told us: “The Senator did not formally endorse Tammy but he is very supportive of the aspirations of his fellow McKinley alum.”

A spokesman for Akaka said that the senator “thinks highly” of Duckworth and indeed volunteered to co-host the event. 

“We haven’t actually used the word ‘endorse’ because Sen. Akaka generally does not endorse in primaries,” Akaka’s spokesman said.