Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona, coming into his own as the Republican candidate for governor in 2010, told Republicans yesterday that majority Democrats would move the state backward and are "counting down to the next election" to reclaim Washington Place.

In a campaign-style speech to delegates at the state GOP convention in Waikiki, Aiona said the first Republican administration in four decades has made the state more fiscally responsible, enacted a three-strikes penalty for violent felons and responded to an increase in homelessness with affordable housing and transitional shelters.

Aiona talked about familiar Republican themes of tax relief, less government regulation and local control of public education, but also indicated that his desire for a constitutional convention will be a significant part of his political strategy.

Voters will decide in November whether to call a constitutional convention, which could be held in 2010, and Aiona has accused Democrats of undermining the vote to protect the status quo. Voters in the 1980s and 1990s rejected constitutional conventions. The last convention was in 1978.

Aiona said issues such as open government, term limits, energy independence, protecting agricultural land and local control of education could be addressed in a setting outside the entrenched power Democrats have at the state Legislature.

"This is one of the most important decisions facing Hawai'i voters this year," Aiona said. "A ConCon will put the public trust back in the driver's seat. In a state that has the lowest voter turnout rate in the nation, and no statewide form of public initiative or referendum, convening a constitutional convention is the best way to get the public more directly involved in putting forth the decisions that govern them."

Several Republicans said it will be a challenge for Aiona to emerge from Gov. Linda Lingle's shadow. His chief assignment as lieutenant governor — devising an anti-drug plan after community uproar over crystal methamphetamine abuse — lacked focus and was largely dismissed by Democrats and many in the drug- treatment community.

Aiona has, however, turned his office into a platform for speaking out against drug abuse and underage drinking and promoting healthy eating habits and physical exercise. A former judge and devout Catholic who has often spoken openly of his faith, Aiona is considered more conservative than the moderate Lingle.

Bruce Shewalter, president of Office Pavilion/Contract Furnishers of Hawaii, said Aiona and other Republican candidates have to address issues such as fiscal responsibility given the state's economic uncertainty over the past several months.

"I think people who have a plan for how we're going to make up for these lost jobs going forward are going to have the advantage," he said. "The bottom line is, locally, people are not going to get out of their houses and vote and do anything unless they can see there is going to be a significant impact on their day-to-day lives, whether it be a job, or whether they are going to have to sell their homes, or default on their mortgages."

Tom White, a consultant and retired Navy officer, said Aiona has a natural presence and local spirit and would be embraced as Lingle's successor. He said Aiona will have some advantage because Democrats will likely not know their nominee for governor until well into 2010.

"It's really about the competition of ideas," he said. "If you don't have a viable two-party system, no matter what side you're on, everything gets stale."

At the convention, Aiona had the second-biggest presence after U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Huge blue McCain banners were up inside the Hilton Hawaiian Village ballroom, with two large photographs — one of a young McCain as a Navy flier, the other of McCain as senator — flanking the stage.

State delegates voted for McCain loyalists, including Lingle and Aiona, for the state's 20-delegate contingent to the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul in September.

But the party's hierarchy first had to shut down moves by a coalition of conservatives and supporters of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas to influence delegate selection and the party's platform. In a series of choreographed votes throughout the day — which included scripts and delegate cue cards (green for yes; red for no) — party leaders outmaneuvered the Paul supporters on delegate selection and quickly adopted the 2006 platform without debate over potential changes.

Several conservatives had wanted to challenge the party's support of a Native Hawaiian federal recognition bill, which they consider racially exclusive. "Ladies and gentlemen, you have been railroaded," bellowed Mike Palcic, a delegate from St. Louis Heights.

Willes Lee, the party's state chairman, said afterward that he was not worried about the dissension.

"If dissension means people get to disagree and then come together at the end to effect an election in November, that's what we've had," he said.