Democratic moderate Congressional candidate Ed Case showed he couldn’t act against the interests of Hawaii Democrats. His positions against working families in Hawaii made him unelectable to his base, and Sen. Daniel Inouye made sure Case wouldn’t get away with it by withholding his support. The DCCC’s surrender of this special election turned out to be the best option for all involved.

Republican candidate Charles Djou won the HI-01 special election with 39.5% of the vote because two Democrats, Colleen Hanabusa with 30.8% and Ed Case with 27.6%, split the Democratic vote almost down the middle. This is a great example of how the design of our election laws can greatly affect our government; a poorly-designed electoral system like Hawaii’s can result in winners that don’t best represent the will of the electorate.

Last night’s loss to Republican Charles Djou breaks a long string of Democratic wins in special elections, and does flip a seat to the Republicans, at least temporarily. But Rep. Djou would basically have to switch parties in order to win in November.

After the DCCC pulled out of the special election in HI-01, most political observers turned their attentions elsewhere. The race, which features two major Democrats and one major Republican in a winner-take-all election, was essentially conceded to Charles Djou, the Republican. It is thought that Ed Case and Colleen Hanabusa will split the vote, and Djou will win easily. Facts on the ground may puncture this conventional wisdom, though.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has officially ended its intervention in the Hawaii Congressional special election to replace Neil Abercrombie, judging that the unique all-candidate, first-past-the-post format makes it likely for a Republican, Charles Djou, to score a temporary victory.

Djou, a Honolulu City Councilman and the only major Republican in the race, has a within-the-margin-of-error lead over Democrats Ed Case and Colleen Hanabusa. He only gets 32% of the vote, but because the special election runs under no-primary, first-past-the-post rules, he would be able to win.

AFL-CIO spokesman Eddie Vale tells FDL News that this is only the beginning of a continuing campaign between now and the election, including mail, phone banks, canvassing and GOTV support. “For us the decision was based on support for working families, we think Hanabusa will be much better on those,” Vale said in an email exchange.

The DCCC’s efforts to meddle in a race that Hanabusa was clearly winning is unique. Obama has historically taken a strong hand to urge challengers out of primary races against Democrats. He personally called Steve Israel and asked him not to challenge Kirsten Gillibrand for the New York Senate seat, and also helped in the effort to “clear the field” for Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania when Joe Sestak was asked to drop his primary challenge. So it’s extremely odd that he’s not intervening in the Hanbusa-Case matter to urge Case out, especially since Case’s entry into a three way race certainly risks throwing the seat to the Republican.

Hawaii’s special election format presents unique challenges for Democrats. All candidates compete in a single election, with the winner taking the seat regardless of percentages. There are two high-profile Democrats in the race and one Republican, which raises the possibility of the Democrats splitting the vote and delivering the race to Charles Djou, the Republican. This has led Democratic operatives to want to push one of the Democrats out and pave the way for a victory. However, they appear to have chosen the moderate LieberDem who is hated by the state political establishment.

Most of the DCCC’s actions can usually be explained by their desire to keep a congressional seat at all costs. But I frankly can’t come up with any good reason why they’re doing this.