Hawaii in 2004

[tpfkaw]

Hawaii has a very strong pro-incumbent bias; it has never trended against an incumbent, and only swung (slightly) against one in 2012 and 1980.  Then there's the whole Senator-for-Life deal.  Also, Cheney made a surprise visit to the state shortly before the election that got quite a bit of favorable news coverage both locally and nationally - Bush might well have won it or at least made it close if he had visited himself.

[tpfkaw]

Actually, whites are the most Democratic voting bloc in Hawaii (other than the fairly miniscule black and Latino communities, I assume)

I though the "Other" races or Native Hawaiians were in the 80's for Obama, while Asians were at 68% and White at 70%. Or did they swing in 2012? This is according to the 2008 exit poll:

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#HIP00p1

IIRC "other" did vote more R than whites in '04.  They're the most pro-incumbent group, I believe.