OVERNIGHT CAMPAIGN: Dems lining up for Inouye seat

TOP STORY: Hawaii Dems move quickly to fill Inouye seat

The Hawaiian Democratic Party is moving quickly to develop a shortlist of successors for Sen. Daniel Inouye’s (D-Hawaii) seat, following the senator’s death on Monday.

Hawaii Democratic Party Chairman Dante Carpenter said he had already been contacted by a number of Democrats interested in the seat, and that party officials had begun the process of collecting applications in the state’s counties.

"With all due respect to the senator passing only yesterday, we have begun the process," he told The Hill on Tuesday.

Democrats must submit three possible Democratic appointees for the seat to Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D), who will choose a replacement to serve until a special election is held in 2014.

"We don't want to lose a minute of seniority," Carpenter said.

One of Inouye’s final acts was to send a letter to Abercrombie urging him to appoint Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-Hawaii) as his successor, which makes her the front-runner for the position, although Abercrombie wields ultimate power over the choice.

An Abercrombie aide said the governor plans to make the decision in time for the beginning of the next Congress, on Jan. 3, so Hawaii will not lack representation in the Senate for very long.

Read more details in Wednesday’s edition of The Hill or at thehill.com

TOMORROW’S AGENDA TODAY: President Obama attends meetings at the White House.

TWEET OF THE DAY:

Rep. Dave Camp's (R-Mich.) colleagues tweeted their best wishes to the lawmaker after he announced that he is cancer-free, following treatments for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I hope she goes – why wouldn’t she?” — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif), on a Hillary Clinton 2016 bid.

POLL POSITION:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is the best-regarded 2016 Republican presidential candidate, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll. He gets 55 percent favorability rating from voters, while Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) gets 46 percent and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal got 45 percent.

SENATE SHOWDOWN:

MASSACHUSETTS: A poll circulated by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) seems to indicate he's more than just "seriously considering" a bid for Senate, as he told the Boston Globe.

NEW JERSEY: Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) is reportedly looking toward a bid for Sen. Frank Lautenberg's (D-N.J.) seat, according to The Wall Street Journal.

OREGON: Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) is framing himself as a populist crusader fighting against "corporate SuperPACs [sic]" in one of his first fundraising pleas of the 2014 cycle.

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