Nov. 05--REPORTING FROM HILO, Hawaii -- Nature is unpredictable here in the 50th state, as are politics -- up to a point. As often happens here, Democrats won big Tuesday night.
First, Hurricane Iselle shook up the primary season. Then state Sen. David Ige unseated incumbent Gov. Neil Abercrombie in the Democratic gubernatorial contest.
Just in time for the general election, Kilauea began spouting lava, causing some polling place confusion in the small town of Pahoa on the Big Island of Hawaii.
But Ige went on to win the governor's office in a big-money, three-way race against Republican Duke Aiona -- the former lieutenant governor who had trailed in the polls for the entire campaign -- and Mufi Hannemann, the former mayor of Honolulu and longtime Democrat who ran as an independent.
Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz retained his seat, and Democrats took both House seats too.
