Former Gov. Linda Lingle has been playing up her moderate credentials in the race for U.S. Senate, a strategy that appears important for the Republican running in a solidly Democratic state. 

Lingle’s Republican opponent John Carroll is criticizing her for embracing a so-called RINO — Republican In Name Only — title. Here’s what Carroll wrote in an email to supporters: 

“Does Linda Lingle see the Republican Party in Hawaii as something to be used as a base of operations from which to get elected rather than as a movement with cherished ideals to nurture and lead? The fact that she tolerates the term RINO is insulting to those of us who still think that the Republican Party, the party of Ronald Reagan, still stands for something, something considerably more important than personal political ambition.”