After initially being passed over, Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou has made the cut and has been bumped up from “on the radar” to “contender” status by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Djou, who is running for Congress in urban Honolulu’s 1st Congressional District, has been getting some national buzz as he goes for an upset against former congressman Ed Case and state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa.

Both parties are watching the special election closely for signs of what it might mean for the November election.

“Given how closely Charles Djou’s anti-middle class agenda mirrors that of national Republicans, it’s no surprise that the NRCC has Djou on their Young Guns list,” Andy Stone, the western regional press secretary with Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement.

Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou got some national face time on Fox News' "Red Eye," an irreverent chat show aimed at younger viewers.

Djou -- a Republican running in the special election to fill out the remainder of U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie's term in Congress -- did his best to stay on point while host Greg Gutfeld hit him with wacky questions based on Hawaii stereotypes.

(Our favorite, in homage to the famous "Brady Bunch" episodes in Hawaii: "Do tiki dolls give curses?")

Not sure "Red Eye" will be giving equal time to former congressman Ed Case and state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, the Democrats in the race. Gutfeld told Djou at one point: "Dude, I think you're going to win."

Watch the segment here.

The state Department of Human Services, under court order, is conducting rulemaking for Basic Health Hawaii, a health-care program for low-income migrants from the Pacific Islands.

After complaints last year that the state was going to cut dialysis and chemotherapy, the department opted to cover dialysis as an emergency service under Medicaid -- the health insurance program for the poor -- and chemotherapy drugs through Basic Health Hawaii.

But state Rep. John Mizuno, D-30th (Kamehameha Heights, Kalihi Valley, Fort Shafter), the chairman of the House Human Services Committee, is not satisfied and has offered his own bill.

Mizuno, who is becoming known for being -- uh, colorful -- when it comes to seeking attention for his causes, asked what is easily the most leading and loaded question so far this session at a hearing on the bill Thursday morning.

Mizuno, speaking to a doctor who works with Pacific Islanders, said: “Would you say Basic Health Hawaii is a prescription for death?”

One important footnote to the drama over civil unions is the fact that the state House never actually got to the magical 34 votes necessary to override a potential veto.

Last year, the House voted 33-17 for a civil-unions bill, with one lawmaker -- Rep. K. Mark Takai, D-34th (Newtown, Waiau, Pearl City) -- excused. Takai, who was deployed with the Hawaii Army National Guard to Kuwait at the time, was one of the bill's co-sponsors, so naturally people counted him as a supporter.

But Takai said he changed his mind after giving the issue some more thought after he returned home. He would have been a "no" had the bill come to the floor for another vote.

So, this session, the count was really at 33 before lawmakers started privately peeling off, eventually resting somewhere around a majority of the 51 members before House leaders made the call last Friday for indefinite postponement.

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie's campaign advisers are getting more pointed in their criticism over Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann's decision not to officially announce that he is running in the Democratic primary for governor.

Hannemann has been able to raise more money than Abercrombie while not formally committing to a campaign.

In a message to supporters on Wednesday, Bill Kaneko, Abercrombie's campaign manager, framed it this way:

Politics in Hawaii is not working for the people.  We have a leadership vacuum that is tearing our communities apart and powerful interests that seek to preserve the status quo.

Everyone knows this, but few stand up to it.  Only you can put an end to the political game-playing occurring at the expense of our children.

Mayor Hannemann says he has an "exploratory committee" -- even though there's no such definition in Hawaii's law. He says that the committee does all the work so he can focus on being mayor. He says this despite the fact that he is clearly campaigning for governor, holding fundraisers on the neighbor islands, and paying attorneys big money to undercut the efforts of his competitors.

He's a candidate when it helps him, and not a candidate when it hurts him.