On Jan. 19, 2012, Kirk Caldwell lost his identity. That was the day former Hawaii Gov. Ben Cayetano entered the race for Honolulu mayor.

Instead of running against a short-term mayor on issues such as cleaning public restrooms, fixing potholes and addressing homelessness, Caldwell had a new foe who would focus the race on a single, mobilizing issue.

Cayetano wants to stop the city’s $5.27 billion rail project. Unlike others before him, some believe he actually has the political clout and support to follow through.

This changed the tenor of the entire race. Cayetano was the anti-rail candidate and Mayor Peter Carlisle was thrust into the position of defending the city’s project at all costs.

With these two diametrically opposed views, Caldwell was left seeking a spot to wedge his platform somewhere between the extremes.

Yes, he is pro-rail. But he also needs to differentiate himself from Carlisle amidst all the noise.

Caldwell’s plan is to “build rail better.” Basically, this means looking for ways to save money and lessen the visual impacts of the above-grade, steel-on-steel system.

This is a tough sales job, local political experts say. With limited time in TV ads and one-minute debate responses, explaining a position that’s more nuanced than “for” or “against” might be difficult.

“He’s kind of caught in the middle here,” said Neal Milner, a retired University of Hawaii political science professor. “Since he’s pro-rail he’s got to find something else, and his argument is that he could do this all better. It makes perfectly good sense to make this type of argument politically, but you just need enough people who care in that way.”

But this also makes Caldwell the “most fascinating” candidate, Milner said.

It’s easier to paint a portrait of Cayetano and Carlisle because of rail, he said, but also because of their high-profile political lives.

Cayetano was a highly controversial, two-term governor, and the first Filipino-American to hold that position. Carlisle was city prosecutor from 1997 to 2010, making his living locking up criminals and never losing an election.

“With Caldwell it’s a little bit different,” Milner said.

Hand Soap and Competency

Caldwell doesn’t look at himself as the middle-of-the road candidate. He also contends this election is more than just a referendum on rail.

When he announced his intentions to run against Carlisle, Caldwell’s first promise was simple — put soap in the bathrooms. He also said he would be more “hands-on” than Carlisle.

In fact, when looking at Caldwell’s main piece of campaign literature, “A Roadmap for Our Future,” he doesn’t mention rail until page 5, and when he does, it’s only in passing reference to job creation. Caldwell eventually addresses his plan to “build rail better” on page 12 of the 18-page document.

The rest of Caldwell’s “Roadmap” is filled with his views on everything from sewer maintenance and what to do with Oahu’s garbage to bridge safety and affordable housing.

Milner said this isn’t necessarily a bad strategy if Cayetano weren’t in the race. Carlisle hasn’t been in office that long, so Caldwell, who was a former acting mayor himself, could argue that he was a more competent leader and better educated on the issues.

“Competency is an important issue, but it’s an extraordinarily difficult issue to use to mobilize a lot of voters,” Milner said. “(But) if you’re basing it on, ‘I can do it better than the other guy,’ well, it’s not an essay writing contest.”

To be effective, Milner said Caldwell needs to point to “concrete, highly salient” issues. One he’s latched onto recently has been to restore city bus routes that the Carlisle administration eliminated as part of a cost saving maneuver.

“Those kind of issues can really eat at a candidate,” Milner said. “No one’s going to run on a clean restroom ticket, but it adds up.”

Caldwell’s Rail Influence

Caldwell bristles when questioned about his struggle to differentiate himself from Carlisle on rail. In fact, Caldwell scoffs when he’s called a moderate in the rail debate.

“If you had a vote today, another Go Rail Go referendum, I don’t think you get out of the chute, and that’s upsetting to me,” Caldwell said. “I’m not playing nuance here. I’m running for office. I try to be honest and direct and I’m looking to do things better. All my life. That’s my position. I’m going to build it. That’s what I want to do and if it’s nuanced, it’s nuanced. If people don’t get it then they don’t get it.”

Perhaps part of the reason Caldwell gets so defensive is that he can claim some ownership over rail, probably more so than either of the other candidates.

During his six years in the state House — where he worked himself up to majority leader — Caldwell was a party to several bills that pushed rail transit forward.

In 2009, then-Mayor Mufi Hannemann appointed Caldwell as his Managing Director, the No. 1 position in his cabinet. Hannemann’s administration is largely credited with getting the rail project into the position it’s in today.

“I can say I had a part, not the only part, but I had a part in moving this project forward,” Caldwell said of his time in the Legislature. “Then I went to the city and worked on it. And here I am running, and I’m not in power of anything, but everyday I’m talking about rail.”

Mufi Hannemann, who is running for a seat in U.S. Congressional District 2, declined to comment. Caldwell, too, refused to discuss his relationship with Hannemann, other than to say they’re both pro-rail.

“Mufi is not in this race and I’m not in his race,” Caldwell said. “He has a huge race and I have my race.”

This wasn’t the only topic that Caldwell tried to deflect. He was was careful to stay on message, and said he would not “speculate” about anything pertaining to possible election results.

He’s a Union Guy

Caldwell’s identity has emerged more in recent weeks. He’s now the face of the pro-rail business community.

According to the most recent campaign finance reports, Caldwell has pulled in $12,550 from individuals who work for companies associated with Move Oahu Forward, a non-partisan, pro-rail advocacy group.

One reason he says he was able gain the backing of some of these individuals is his background as a managing partner at the downtown Honolulu law firm, Ashford & Wriston.

Caldwell has also captured much of the union support, something both Cayetano and Carlisle have criticized him for saying he’s too friendly with the labor groups.

Among the groups backing him are the Hawaii Government Employees Association, the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers and the Hawaii Fire Fighers Association as well as several construction unions.

This shouldn’t be surprising considering Cayetano’s history fighting with labor unions while he was governor. Carlisle, a Republican, has also gained a reputation as a fiscal conservative who might be tough on unions.

Randy Perreira, the executive director of HGEA, said in a statement that Carlisle also “seems to lack compassion” for the people who work under him.

“Many in the Labor movement here feel that Carlisle’s heart is not in this election,” Perreira said, “and that he seems to be going through the motions of leading — making the necessary public appearances, but not necessarily being totally engaged in the responsibilities of being the mayor of our city.”

Underdog Bogged Down

All this pro-rail and union support makes it hard for Caldwell to claim underdog status. He still tries, however, saying the only name recognition he has comes mainly from his six years serving a tiny sliver of Oahu in the Manoa Valley.

But now Caldwell seems to be gaining momentum.

A Civil Beat poll in February showed Caldwell coming in third in the three-way race behind front-runner Cayetano, who had more than 50 percent of the support. But in Civil Beat’s June poll, Caldwell was in a statistical tie with Carlisle. The two also cut into Cayetano’s lead, dropping his support down to 44 percent.

These rankings are all the more important when considering the context of the Aug. 11 primary. If one candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, that person wins outright. Otherwise, the top two vote-getters move on to the November general election.

Retired UH history professor and local political pundit Dan Boylan said Caldwell still has some more work to do if he wants to win a seat in the Honolulu Mayor’s Office because he still can’t claim the most “passionate” position on rail.

“When you run for political office you put down a lot of things,” Boylan said. “You essentially put down your menu and people look at your menu to see what they want to buy.”

Caldwell’s menu, Boylan said, includes the following items: he’s pro-rail, but with certain reservations; he has experience in city government, but not too much; and he tends to know the the issues better than his opponents, but this makes him boring.

“Kirk’s problem is he’s very good at doing the homework and knowing the issue, but he comes off as too serious,” Boylan said.

But if you ask Chuck Freedman, who was the director of communications for former Gov. John Waihee and former chief of staff for Caldwell, that’s exactly what he wants in his mayor. Freedman left his job as spokesman for the Hawaii Democratic Party in June and is helping with Caldwell’s campaign.

“People might get bored if someone starts talking in detail about some infrastructural issue in the city. You might even see their eyelids droop a little bit,” Freedman said. “But they want to know that they’re mayor understands that stuff because when that stuff goes sour, that affects their lives. … It’s the pothole you just ran over that’s the biggest issue for you.”