You don't have to look too far under the surface to figure out that the congenial primary contest between incumbent Sen. Dan Akaka and his challenger, Rep. Ed Case, will be a tougher fight than it appears.

Akaka fired one of the first salvos last week in a meeting with Advertiser editors in which he put quite a bit of distance between himself and Case on an issue they presumably have no disagreement over.

How could that be?

That issue, naturally enough, is the Hawaiian recognition or Akaka bill which the senator has been pushing for years. Case is firmly on record as supporting the bill, so what could possibly be the issue?

Here's how Akaka framed it: If the bill is pushed over until next year (certainly a possibility) and he is not in the Senate, "I would think the bill would not go."

In other words, without Akaka, the Akaka bill is dead.

That puts the stakes rather high, and one has to think the senator has made something of a gamble.

After all, the Akaka bill — even though it has broad bipartisan support in the Islands — is not universally popular. Some folks might take Akaka's comment as reason enough not to return him to office.

Akaka's comment relates to seniority in the Senate, always an important matter, but not quite in the way one ordinarily thinks of it. Akaka's supporters will note that his rank (currently 34th overall in seniority; 20th in the Democratic caucus) gives him status on committees and even in choice of seat on the Senate floor.

Case would come in as a raw freshman.

Case's basic point is that while seniority matters, it is time to put someone in place to begin earning seniority against the day when Akaka and senior Sen. Daniel Inouye are no longer there (Inouye is No. 3 in the Senate).

You might call it the orderly-succession argument.

But Akaka wishes to make the point that his importance is not so much a fact of where he sits on the Senate pecking order as it is the relationships, friendships and political chits he has collected over the years.

Many of the votes for the Akaka bill, he said, represent personal commitments to him, not generalized support for the bill itself. Without Akaka, the votes vaporize.

As the campaign unfolds, there will be other issues that occupy the minds of voters trying to make a distinction between Akaka and Case.

A classic example is the Jones Act, which protects domestic shipping by reserving it for American companies.

Akaka supports it, Case opposes, which is a good take on their political philosophies. Case is a determined moderate while Akaka has one of the strongest pro-labor, liberal voting records in the Senate.

So which will it be: issues or who best knows how to navigate the corridors of power on Capitol Hill?

Jerry Burris is The Advertiser's editorial page editor.

Reach Jerry Burris at jburris@honoluluadvertiser.com.