And they're off!

More than 280 candidates are running for 120 federal, state and county offices in Hawai'i's Sept. 23 primary election, including a few who jumped in just before yesterday's deadline.

Most of the races will be highly competitive, and 10 seats in the Legislature are wide open because incumbents are not seeking re-election.

But 11 state lawmakers can cruise to victory because no one is running against them — nearly double the six uncontested races in 2004. They'll be re-elected as soon as they receive one vote.

Unopposed in the Senate are Democrats Donna Mercado Kim, Russell Kokubun, Norman Sakamoto and Brian Taniguchi and Republican Sam Slom.

SENATE RACE HOT

In the House, Democrats Josh Green, Hermina Morita, K. Mark Takai and Dwight Takamine and Republicans Colleen Meyer and Cynthia Thielen have no challengers.

"It's really unfortunate when there's no contest," said Jean Aoki, legislative chair of the League of Women Voters of Hawai'i. "There may be that rare case when someone is doing such a good job that no one wants to run against them, but generally it's because they have a lock on the district, with lots of money from campaign contributions, and lots of name recognition."

Honolulu City Council Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz and Councilman Charles Djou will also get free rides. Neighbor Island council members with no opposition include Donald Ikeda and Angel Pilago on the Big Island, and Michelle Anderson, G. Riki Hokama and Danny Mateo in Maui County.

So far, the most high-profile race is between longtime U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka and fellow Democrat Ed Case, who is giving up his U.S. House seat to make the challenge. Akaka is far ahead of Case in fundraising, with more than $1 million on hand versus Case's $381,000.

Republicans running lower-profile campaigns for Akaka's seat include former Vietnam POW Jerry Coffee and attorney Mark Beatty. Winners from each party will face off in the Nov. 7 general election.

Meanwhile, a herd of hard-chargers is running for Case's House seat, which represents Central, Leeward, Windward and North Shore O'ahu and the Neighbor Islands. Front-running Democrats include former Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono; state Sens. Colleen Hanabusa, Clayton Hee, Gary Hooser and Ron Menor; state Rep. Brian Schatz; former state Sen. Matt Matsunaga; and Honolulu Councilman Nestor Garcia. Republican candidates include former state Rep. Quentin Kawananakoa and state Sen. Bob Hogue. Additional Democrats in the race are first-time candidate Hanalei Aipoalani and attorney Joe Zuiker.

The race for governor has been a snoozer so far. Gov. Linda Lingle faces no serious competition from fellow Republicans, and Democrats who hope to run against her in November have not generated much excitement yet. They include former state Sen. Randall Iwase and Wai'anae harbormaster William Aila Jr.

MAUI MAYOR

Eight challengers are hoping to unseat Mayor Alan Arakawa on Maui, including former mayor James "Kimo" Apana. And on Kaua'i, Mayor Bryan Baptiste has five challengers.

Several candidates waited until the last minute before yesterday afternoon's deadline to file with the state Office of Elections. Mike Abe, a Democrat running against state Rep. Barbara Marumoto, R-19th (Kaimuki, Kahala, Wai'alae Iki), was among the last to file at the office in Downtown Honolulu.

"I have been out campaigning. I've been canvassing," Abe said. "I've been focusing on everything else, so I just didn't get to it until today."

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com.