We’re at the end of an era, one that many people 40 years ago, surely never thought they’d see, “the Abercrombie era.”

And we are at the beginning of a new era, one that would not exist had it not been for Neil Abercrombie.

What many of us do not realize, given Neil’s style of public presentation, is that he is — and always has been — a “team player.”

For example, few people outside of Dan Inouye’s inner circle, ever knew that it was his decision to call for the entire Hawaii congressional team to support the late senator in 1992 — when he was accused of sexually abusing his female barber — that saved the day for “Big Dan.”

Gov. Neil Abercrombie and wife Nancie Caraway show election receipts after casting their primary votes.

PF Bentley/Civil Beat

The dissatisfaction of that same inner circle when it came to appointing the late Senator’s successor in 2012 shows that “long memories” are usually very selective in politics.

Whatever you think about Neil’s tenure as governor, everybody saw the first thing he did after 40 years in office was to go to David Ige’s headquarters and congratulate his opponent, and pledge his full support in the general election. No second guesses, no regrets. It was a class act.

How did the primary night results come about? John Bickel, president of Americans for Democratic Action-Hawaii, offered this analysis: “Hawaii is basically a liberal electorate and disappointed liberals withheld their support in droves.”

Why? The full answer is probably too complex to parse out in a few words, but essentially, when Neil became governor, he inherited a fiscal disaster from his Republican predecessor.

In order to carry the state of Hawaii away from imminent ruin and toward financial soundness, the governor saw it as his very less-than-liberal mandate to institute measures, such as defying the Hawaii State Teachers Association, that infuriated his traditionally progressive base of support.

Politically speaking, Neil fell on his sword to keep the state’s finances from collapse.

Of course there were other actions — on public lands, agriculture, and development — that angered many on the left.

This, combined with his combative style that was more suited to a national stage rather than our local one, probably raised the ante considerably.

But Neil could never be anyone but himself. What you saw was what you got and he was not about to mute his style — even if some people thought it was in his best interests to do so.

Now what? November’s race for Washington Place may now look like a toss-up, but the anti-incumbent vote has been absorbed and, as far as the Democratic Party is concerned, this is probably a good thing.

Questions Going Forward

Does Mufi Hannemann have a chance or will he just turn out to be a spoiler?

What is Ige’s appeal and can he count on a united party that will help him to reintegrate disaffected liberals who withdrew support from the predecessor he defeated?

And what of Republican candidates Duke Aiona and his running mate, Pastor Elwin Ahu?

Will Linda Lingle’s legacy dog Aiona or will he be able to present himself as a new, different, and credible alternative to the Democratic and Independent party candidates?

Our best guess is that “yes, Mufi will be a spoiler,” taking some Democratic votes, but also enough independent votes to make it difficult for the Aiona-Ahu team to prevail against a united Democratic front.

But the major appeal of Aiona and Ahu is to the growing religious right wing in Hawaii.

And the big issue that will — or at least should — confront the Republican gubernatorial candidates will be the separation of church and state.

Hawaii GOP leader Jonah Kaauwai recently e-mailed the party faithful, “Duke will win because the church has been behind him the entire time operating in the POWER and the AUTHORITY of the NAME OF JESUS!”

That’s frankly scary stuff.