Hawaii's Tulsi Gabbard running for POTUS

SCREEN CAPTURE / CNN

Hawaii's Representative Tulsi Gabbard

WHILE NO ONE WAS WATCHING, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has joined the 2020 race for President of the U.S.

The Hawaii congressmember told CNN her intention to join what is expected a crowded field of candidates to challenge the Republican candidate who at this point, will be Donald Trump.

“I have decided to run and will be making a formal announcement within the next week,” Gabbard told CNN host Van Jones during a taping of his show on Friday.

But her announcement Friday on CNN still caught many by surprise — including her father, State Senator Mike Gabbard.

The elder Gabbard told Hawaii News Now that he was traveling and “pleasantly surprised” to see his daughter had announced her 2020 bid for the White House.

“I didn’t know she had made a final decision,” Gabbard said. “She has so much aloha for the people. She’ll make a great president!”

Tulsi Gabbard, 37. represents District 2 of Hawaii. She is the first American Samoan and the first Hindu member of Congress.

One of Tulsi Gabbard's main focus in her campaign is her anti-interventionist position. especially in regards to the Middle East where she served two tours in the U.S. Army. She currently serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Gabbard's early announcement might allow her to test her fund-raising ability. She is not widely known outSen. side of Hawaii so she will rely heavily on the connections she has made while working on Bernie Sanders' 2016 campaign. Rania Batrice, who was Sanders' deputy campaign manager is now a top aide to Gabbard, will be Gabbard's campaign manager..

The 4-term Gabbard has always been an outlier in the Democratic Party. In 2015, Gabbard, was vice-chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, but became disappointed with the leadership and was sharply critical of the DNC's chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz for scheduling just six presidential debates during the 2016 primary election cycle and for its apparent favoritism towards candidate Hillary Clinton.

Gabbard later resigned her post as DNC vice chair to become one of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' highest-profile supporters, aligning herself with his populist economic message.

Gabbard's entry into the coming Democratic fray may split Sander's young progressive supporters should the Vermont senator decide to join the race for president. Some speculate, Gabbard's candidacy may be signal that the 77-year old Sanders will not throw his hat in the ring.

Thus far, only Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former HUD Secretry Julian Castro of Texas have launched exploratory committees. At least 20 more Democrats are expected to seek the Democratic Party's nomination for president.

Jones' show air on CNN today, Saturday (Dec. 12) at 7 p.m. EDT.

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Obama cites impact of climate change on Pacific nations; expands largest marine monument

On Midway Atoll, President Barack Obama looks over the new oceanic
preserve off the Hawaiian islands. 

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA once began his remarks in front of a gathering of Pacific Islanders gathered in Paris for climate talks, "I'm an island boy." He stopped in Hawaii on his way to Asia where he plans to have climate change as a theme throughout his trip.

“Few people understand, I think, the stakes better than our Pacific Island leaders, because they’re seeing already the impact,” he told a group of Pacific Island leaders and conservationists at the East-West Center in Honolulu. “Rising temperatures and sea levels pose an existential threat to your countries.”

“Crops are withering in the Marshall Islands. Kiribati bought land in another country because theirs may someday be submerged. High seas forced villagers from their homes in Fiji,” said Obama, who early in his first term billed himself as "America's first Pacific president." 

He also noted that he brought his children to Hawaii for Christmas vacation every year. “I want to make sure that when they are bringing their children here or grandchildren that they are able to appreciate the wonders of this island,” he said in closing.

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• 'I'm and island boy,' says Obama
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Earlier this week, he announced the expansion of the national monument off of Hawaii, vastly enlarging an area in a region that six presidents have sought to protect. 

On Thursday, Sept. 1, he landed on Midway Atoll, now a part of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, which spans 582,578 square miles – roughly four times the size of California.

The enlarged monument is home to more than 7,000 species, including green turtles, endangered Hawaiian monk seals, various seabirds and a newly discovered octopus scientists nicknamed Casper. As many as a quarter of the species are found nowhere else on the planet.

The monument expansion is part of the president's legacy of conservation. In addition, the Obama Administration is announcing nearly $40 million in new programming to enhance resilience to climate change and advance clean-energy development by building regional, national, and local capacity in the Pacific Islands to prepare for and help mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. 

National Park Service

These steps come as sea level rise and the increased strength and frequency of catastrophic weather events pose an existential threat to places most vulnerable to their impacts, such as the Pacific Islands. In addition, and consistent with the theme of this year’s World Conservation Congress, the Administration is announcing policies to promote conservation and combat climate change by protecting wildlife, oceans, and lands.

Throughout the week, senior Administration officials, including Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, are attending the World Conservation Congress to discuss these steps and hear directly from leaders in government, business, NGOs, Indigenous groups, and youth groups on a broad range of topics related to conservation and climate change.

“I have to say that Teddy Roosevelt gets the credit for starting the national parks system,” Obama said, perhaps cementing his record on conservation, “but when you include a big chunk of the Pacific Ocean, we now have actually done more acreage than any other president.”

President Obama left Hawaii this morning for China where it is expected that a major announcement will be made regarding the involvement of the U.S. and China in the international climate agreement achieved in Paris in December.

UPDATED: President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed the agreement as expected, according to Scientific American.

Obama's visit to the island state where he was born perhaps will be his last as a sitting President. Towards the end of his East-West speech, he got a bit nostalgic noting that “a lot of my life started within a mile radius of here.”

He said his mother and father met “probably a couple hundred yards” from the East-West Center. He went to school about a mile from UH’s campus (at Punahou School), and he was born about a mile away (at Kapiolani Hospital).

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Hawaii's voters join Washington & Alaska in feeling the 'Bern'

Sanders Campaign photo

Hawaii's Rep. Tulsi Gabbard campaigned for Bernie Sanders in her home state.

HAWAIIAN VOTERS went for Bernie Sanders in a big way last Saturday (March 26) as he won 70% of the vote in the Democratic Caucus, 

In a statement issued after the preliminary results showed a lopsided victory, Sanders said, “I want to thank the people of Hawaii for their strong support and for turning out in huge numbers for Saturday’s caucuses. Nobody should have any doubt that this campaign has extraordinary momentum and that we have a path toward victory. In state after state, our grassroots effort has taken on the entire political establishment.”

Although neither candidate campaigned in the island state, Sanders outspent Hillary Clinton almost 5 to 1 and it paid off, offsetting the endorsements Clinton received from establishment Democrats, including Sens. Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz, Rep. K. Mark Takai, and a number of state legislators and former governors.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, however, endorsed Sanders after she left her post with the Democratic National Committee last month.

RELATED: Gabbard resigns from top Democratic post

“We need a commander in chief who has foresight, who exercises good judgment and who understands the need for a robust foreign policy which defends the safety and security of the American people,” said Gabbard, a veteran. “And who will not waste precious lives and money on interventionist wars of regime change.”

That message went over well in a state that has a heavy military presence.

Hawaii, the bluest of blue states and the only state that has an AAPI majority of registered voters, followed pollsters predictions saying Asian/Americans tended to favor the Vermont senator. African/American and Latino/American voters tended to favor Clinton but in Hawaii, they represented a smaller portion of the Democratic electorate.

RELATED: AAPI voters lean towards Democrats, Sanders

Ernie Hong, 62, a retired clerical worker, said he thinks Clinton would do a better job negotiating and making peace with different factions in politics.

"I know she's not my perfect candidate that will represent everything that I would like, but she represents quite a few things that I do vote for in a candidate, which is experience, know-how, how to work with Congress, how to work with the system, and especially the ability to find common ground with our parties," Hong told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Aaron Toyama, 28,  showed up at Highlands Intermediate School in Pearl City to vote for Sanders because he supported Sanders' social policies. Toyama, a machinist and Pearl City resident, added that Sanders fights for the middle class.“He’s been for the people since he started in office.”

The win in Hawaii made it a perfect trifecta for Sanders, who also won handily in Washington and Alaska caucuses last Saturday. Generally speaking, Sanders has performed better than Clinton in the states having caucuses and Clinton doing better in primary states.

The trio of victories did little to dent Clinton's advantage in the delegate math as the former secretary of State now has 1,243 delegates compared to 975 for Sanders. Once superdelegates are taken into account, Clinton's lead grows to 1,712 to 1,004, according to the Associated Press.

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For more news about Asian/Americans & Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.