Word is that a number of prominent local Democrats are traveling to Las Vegas to work the Hawai'i expatriate crowd on behalf of Barack Obama.

But in many ways, the real gambler is Republican Gov. Linda Lingle, who may not be spending much time under the bright lights in Las Vegas, but is rolling the dice on behalf of John McCain.

Lingle takes on a fair amount of political risk against the possibility of big political gain by leaving town to campaign for McCain and her friend, Sarah Palin.

The risk is that Lingle is diverted into presidential politics at a time when the situation back home arguably demands full-time attention from the governor. The state faces a budget shortfall of nearly a billion dollars. While the shortfall is not Lingle's fault, the ultimate responsibility for dealing with it falls squarely on her shoulders.

Count on it, she will be criticized for fiddling with presidential politics while the budget burns at home. True, Lingle has already asked agencies to prepare contingency budgets cuts of 10, 15 or 20 percent. This will get her started on doing the hard work of trimming back state expenses.

But work of this magnitude cannot be handled by arbitrary across-the-board cuts. It comes down to real and often painful decisions on a program-by-program basis. Ultimately, these decisions must involve the governor directly and immediately.

Lingle's decision to spend time campaigning for McCain will create questions about where her priorities lie.

Now, the governor will argue that getting McCain elected will do more for the economy and for Hawai'i's financial future than anything she could do at home right now.

Surely, that was the subtext when she told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin editorial board recently that electing Democrat Obama "would devastate our economy."

Lingle's decision to spend time on the stump out of state also means she has less time to get Republicans elected here at home. The local GOP outright conceded a couple of dozen legislative seats by failing to produce a candidate.

The few races where Republicans are competitive need all the help they can get from the popular governor.

Instead, that help is going to the national ticket. Now, if McCain wins, Lingle will have unrivaled access to the White House and may even be in line for a Cabinet post — say Energy or Interior — which would make a lot of sense.

But that's then and this is now. The task for Lingle over the next several weeks is to explain how her foray into national politics does not mean critical work at home on the red ink budget and local legislative races will be left behind.

Jerry Burris' column appears Wednesdays in this space. See his blog at blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com/akamaipolitics. Reach him at jrryburris@yahoo.com.