Let the political gamesmanship begin!

There’s a new website up today — paid for by the pro-rail Pacific Resource Partnership — urging Ben Cayetano to show more respect to Sen. Dan Inouye after the barb at Wednesday’s debate — the first of the 2012 mayoral campaign.

The URL, for your bookmarks, is BeNiceBen.com. That angry-looking photo of Cayetano and a smiling Inouye are at the top of the page. Here’s what the website says:

Did you hear what former Governor Ben Cayetano said at last Wednesday’s mayoral debate?

Governor Cayetano launched into a mean-spirited attack against Hawaii’s distinguished senior senator, saying that Inouye has “never listened to the people” and is “out of touch.”

These sorts of personal attacks have no place in our public discourse. When Ben Cayetano disrespects Senator Inouye — a man of integrity and honor with a distinguished record of public service — he’s disrespecting all of us.

There’s a petition you can sign, and you can tweet with the #BeNiceBen hashtag. The first two to do so are Matt Robertson, a spokesman for the Kirk Caldwell campaign, and Keith Rollman, a former advisor to Mayor Mufi Hannemann.