While they are hardly the only two candidates in the race for governor of Hawaii next year, it already looks as if the outsized personalities of Mayor Mufi Hannemann and U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie might suck most of the oxygen out of the contest.

It is early in the going and these two Democrats are already at it. The signs are for a campaign that might match the incendiary level reached when the two battled for the U.S. House in 1986. In that bizarre match, Abercrombie won a special election to fill out the remaining months of a term left vacant when Cec Heftel ran for governor. Hannemann won the regular Democratic primary but then lost to Republican Pat Saiki.

Abercrombie was clearly seeking to get under Hannemann's skin this week when he declared the mayor had no business setting up a gubernatorial "exploratory" committee when there is still work to be done on the city's multi-million-dollar rail transit system.

Never mind that the formation of a exploratory committee will take little of Hannemann's time. It's mostly there so that friends and supporters can begin raising money while Hannemann goes about his municipal duties.

By forming the committee, Abercrombie said, Hannemann is leaving the rail project "leaderless." Well, hardly. And indeed it is likely that one reason Hannemann has not formally announced is that he wants to be sure all the basic planning and funding documents are signed and in place before he turns his full attention to the race for governor.

If there is going to be resistance to any of the transit work going forward — and you can bet there will — Hannemann does not want to give up the appearance of being a political lame duck. In fact, he has already made it clear he does not intend to resign until the last possible minute, on filing day next July.

Further, the tireless Abercrombie has decided he can handle the work of being a declared candidate for governor at the same time he keeps up with the very serious work of being a congressman in a time of war and economic turmoil. With North Korea threatening, Abercrombie's senior position on the Armed Services Committee is certain to demand more than the usual attention.

No one doubts that Abercrombie is more than up to the task. Abercrombie also has made it clear that by not resigning he avoids the stress and expense of a special election for his vacant 1st District congressional seat. After all, he went through exactly that in 1986, and it wasn't pretty.

There is going to be a lot to talk about in his upcoming governor's contest. The economy is in shambles, many basic state services are threatened. It will be good to hear how Hannemann and Abercrombie (and the many others who will get into the race) will handle these tasks.

It's hard to talk about such matters when the conversation bounces around the arcane political dance of "who's on first," campaign-wise.