In response to a blog post earlier Wednesday (July 18) regarding three missed votes in the House of Representatives this week, Carolyn Tanaka, spokeswoman for Mazie Hirono‘s U.S. Senate campaign, issued this statement:

Mazie is committed to continuing to work for the people of her district while also running a vigorous campaign for U.S. Senate, where the stakes for Hawaii are very high. Because if Hawaii doesn’t like the partisan games being played nearly every day by the Republicans who control the U.S. House, then we certainly cannot afford to allow the Republican Party to win the four seats required to seize control of the U.S. Senate.

For that matter, Mazie’s opponent Ed Case certainly understands what it’s like to both serve Hawaii and campaign for Senate. As a congressman, Ed Case missed 10 % of votes after announcing his ill-advised and ill-fated 2006 Democratic primary challenge to Senator Dan Akaka. And even after Case lost, he apparently decided he didn’t have to go back to work — missing 37% of his congressional votes in the months after the primary campaign ended.

—Chad Blair