By Patti Epler
02/06/2012

Hawaii Rep. Colleen Hanabusa and her political rival, former Congressman Charles Djou, are heading into the 2012 election with about the same amount of money in the bank to spend on what promises to be a spirited general election campaign.

But Djou's money has been in the bank for awhile — it's mainly left over from the 2010 election when he was defeated by Hanabusa for the 1st Congressional District seat. An Army reserve major, Djou is currently deployed to Afghanistan and is prohibited by law from campaigning while on active duty.

So it remains to be seen how successful the Republican contender will be at fundraising when he hits the campaign trail aggressively in a few months. For the 2010 race, when he was running as an incumbent, he raised more than $1.3 million, federal election records show.

Meanwhile, the Democrat Hanabusa has been taking full advantage of her first term in Congress to raise money from the usual political action committees that donate heavily to incumbents, along with individual contributors.

More: http://www.civilbeat.com/articles/2012/02/06/14795-hanabusa-djou-each-start-2012-with-300k-in-bank/