The New York Times identifies Hawaii’s U.S. Senate race as a toss-up, arguing that a Democrat or a Republican could wind up victorious. 

That’s the kind of national analysis that Hawaii has been getting ever since former Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle, a high-profile Republican, announced her candidacy for Senate last month. 

Not so fast, says Politico’s David Catanese. 

He acknowledges that Republicans got “the best candidate they could hope for” in Lingle, but argues that President Barack Obama‘s place at the top of the ticket will be a huge help to the Democratic Senate candidate. 

Catanese also questions the extent to which Hawaii voters have forgotten their disdain for Lingle when she left office. 

“Don’t ignore that she left office with just a 41 percent job approval rating,” he writes.

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