Have you checked out The Hot Seat? It's our opinion-page blog that brings in your elected leaders and people in the news and lets you ask the questions during a live online chat.

On The Hot Seat last week was former Congressman Ed Case. (Names of questioners are screen names given during our online chat.)

Slide: Governor? U.S. Senate? Mayor? Which race are you most interested in? Which race do you expect to run in?

Ed Case: I remain committed to public service, and hope to serve Hawai'i in elective office again.

I believe our main challenges are at the federal and state levels. At this point, with over 12 very full years in federal and state office, I believe my best contributions would lie in Congress or the governor's office.

I continue to believe that our challenges over the next generation are most acute in the U.S. Senate, where we have not provided for an optimum transition and where I believe I can best serve. Along these lines, I've continued my Senate campaign aiming at 2012, when Sen. (Daniel) Akaka's current term ends (Sen. Daniel Inouye's ends in 2010.)

It's unlikely I'd run for Honolulu mayor next year. I strongly believe voters deserve a good choice in that race. But again, I believe I can better contribute to all Hawai'i in federal or state office. And, with possible opportunities for further federal or state service coming up during the next mayor's four-year term, I couldn't commit, as I believe any mayoral candidate should, to the full term.

Sean: Are you in favor of a comprehensive immigration bill like the one up for debate now, or are you in favor of passing legislation in pieces, perhaps like securing the border first and then moving on to the next issue?

Case: I believe the only way we can truly reform immigration in a way that'll really work is through a comprehensive immigration bill incorporating all aspects.

I'm not sure whether I would support the bill currently being debated, but it does pass the comprehensive test.

Grayson Smith: Given what you know today, would you have taken a different position on the Iraq war during the last election? Do you think that position cost you the Senate race against Akaka? Are you willing to do what Hillary Clinton won't, that is, apologize and say support for the war was wrong?

Case: I have said and believe that, had I been in Congress in October 2002, when the resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq was passed (296-133 in the House, 77-23 in the Senate), and knowing only what any member of Congress knew at that time, I probably would have voted in support, for these reasons: First, I believed that, especially post-9/11, we could not accept the risk of a country sworn to do us harm and in possession of weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein was sworn to do us harm and had obstructed U.N.-mandated WMD inspections to confirm the U.N. WMD ban for a decade. We had every reason to suspect he was in fact developing WMD, our intelligence community and the president said they had proof, and we did not then generally question their credibility.

Second, the U.N. was not enforcing its own mandates and I did not believe we could accept the consequences, either in Iraq or for other countries. I would not have voted for the resolution then if I had known there had been no WMD in Iraq or significant doubt had been expressed of its presence, or if the UN was enforcing its own mandates, and I believe that our president, subsequent to the resolution, did not exhaust diplomatic options before intervening. I thus believe that our intervention was a mistake. But we don't have the luxury of going back to the way things were before we intervened; we have to address the mistake in a way that doesn't make its consequences worse than they already are.

The question in Iraq has never been about whether to disengage and bring our troops home but about when and how and with what long-term risks to our security.

I believe that Iraq is anything but simple. I cannot agree with either extreme of this most difficult debate: one advocating unilateral, unconditional, timetable-specific withdrawal and believing there will be no consequence to our security; and the other advocating an indefinite status-quo presence and believing that's the only way to preserve our security. I also cannot agree that the debate should be about funding, rather than conditions on the continuing authority to use force.

I support the Iraq Study Group's nonpartisan December 2006 report, which I believe realistically depicted the situation in Iraq and the region and the consequences of various options, and laid out a difficult but realistic plan for disengagement of our troops and engagement of our world. I believe Congress has and should exercise its inherent power to debate these options and implement the gist of the ISG's recommendations in a nonfunding context.

My position, expressed honestly as I believe public officials should do, even in the most difficult of campaigns, clearly cost me. I do believe our intervention was a mistake, but, as I said above, I don't believe we can just rewind to pre-mistake.

John Kim: As you point to a run at the U.S. Senate in 2012, would it be as a Democrat, Republican or Independent?

Case: I've been a Democrat throughout my political career and I don't have any plans to change. At the same time, I've believed for some time that Democrats need change both nationally and here at home to earn voters' ongoing trust. Congress is way too partisan and that the best mainstream solutions often get drowned out in all the party shouting. (The same is true in our state Legislature.) And I also agree with you that Democrats (or Republicans) shouldn't have to think and vote alike all the time.

CDLee: Mayor Bloomberg in New York City is leaving the Republican Party in favor of "putting partisanship aside and working with whoever will get the particular task at hand accomplished."

Do you believe the "status quo" and "old boys" of the Democratic Party here in Hawai'i are a real problem, and has such stale partisanship ever made you consider leaving the Democratic Party?

Case: I believe in the essence of what Mayor Bloomberg has articulated. I believe there's a place for parties and partisanship in our democracy, but also believe the degree has become an obstacle to forward progress.

I believe most voters share that sentiment; I would guess over half of us don't think of partisanship first in our voting and philosophy. I don't believe it's inconsistent to be a member of a party yet work with nonparty members to get the job done. I do believe that the status quo and old boys of the Hawai'i Democratic Party have not been good for Hawai'i over the past few decades; the need to change our political culture was a central theme of my candidacy last year.

Luckily there are other Hawai'i Democrats who feel the same way, so I have felt that my best way forward was change within and at the voting booth.

Olwen Huxley: What are your thoughts on the long-term future of the Hawaiian economy? We have significant disparities between rich and poor, the housing situation seems to get worse with each report, and most service-sector jobs don't really pay that well. Currently, Hawai'i's major economic drivers are tourism, hosting military installations and federal largess. Is this the best we can do, or are there other industries/sources of tax revenue that you think we ought to be pursuing, and if so, what are they?

Case: It's a combination. Our economy will continue to depend greatly on tourism and federal spending especially on defense for at least a generation, and I support that as a matter of practical realism.

But we have not yet mustered the collective will to take full advantage of our potential to diversify through the small-business community in it and a whole range of other possibilities, as well as to rejuvenate agriculture, especially for energy production, to name a few.

Glen: Although 2012 is not too far away in the world of political elections, it is a distance away in the view of the general public. How do you plan to remain visible and what will the basis of your support base be? What insights can you share regarding lessons learned from your last election run? A lot of esteem has been lost in holding an elected public service office. What can be done to restore the regard it once held?

Case: I don't know exactly when or what opportunities to seek, or which office will arise, so I feel kind of like I'm all dressed up and waiting for the chance to go out again. I've taken the last few months to re-establish my law practice at Bays Deaver Lung Rose & Holma, to fix my house and get caught up with my personal life, and to spend time in the ocean! I'm stepping out again with speeches, teaching and other activities, and am especially focused on mentoring a broader selection of candidates for the 111 seats up for election throughout Hawai'i next year.

I hope and believe my support base will remain what I believe to be the majority that want constructive change for Hawai'i and for our country, and want to work honestly and persistently toward improvement.