There are so few things you can count on anymore, but among them are two truisms: If there's a storm or tsunami watch, reporters can always find people on the beach who aren't worried, and the list of people running for lieutenant governor is five times longer than the list of people running for governor.

The world is divided into people who run toward excitement and people who seek shelter.

The lieutenant governor's office is the safest safe zone in the state.

Norman Sakamoto announced his candidacy for lieutenant governor this week, joining a long list of politicians with enough ambition to seek higher office but not enough to run for governor.

As state senator, he is chairman of the Senate Education and Housing Committee, yet he says he wants to be LG so he can support public education. It would seem that the place to do that would be as head of the powerful Senate committee. When was the last time a lieutenant governor had anything to do with public education? In 1990, Lt. Gov. Ben Cayetano set up the A-Plus after-school program, but since then, all the job really calls for is showing up with McGruff the Crime Dog at D.A.R.E. rallies and reminding kids to eat five fruits a day.

Why would anyone actually want the often-idle, irrelevant and sometimes humiliating job of second fiddle? The one who shows up to speak at the function when the boss is too busy. The one who has to stand two feet behind the podium and applaud while the governor makes speeches. The one who wants to be No. 2 to Mufi or Neil.

Sakamoto certainly is one of the more reasonable politicians expressing interest in the job, along with Lyla Berg, Robert Bunda and Brian Schatz. With Schatz, you get the sense that he's not too chicken to run for governor, more that he's got his eye on higher office and understands that there are intermediate steps on the ladder, like hanging with McGruff and five fruits at the cafeteria assemblies. But then there's Jon Riki Karamatsu with his shameful DUI and stream-of-barely-consciousness blogging. And Gary Hooser with his long history of tax troubles while running a magazine on local business. And Rod Tam with his long history of being Rod Tam. Any politician who thinks voters have amnesia in the online age is delusional.

This list is just a start. It's still so early.

You never know how many lurkers are out there testing the breeze and planning their pounce, dreaming of a safe place to land for four quiet years.