The race for House District 46 (Kahuku, North Shore, Schofield) is a five-candidate contest that could ultimately end up pitting two longtime political foes against each other for a fourth time: incumbent Democrat Michael Magaoay and his perennial Republican opponent, Carol Philips.

But before Philips or Magaoay can square off against each other in the Nov. 4 general election, they must first overcome what could be formidable opposition in their own party primaries.

Magaoay faces two experienced Democratic opponents — Ollie Lunasco, 66, a retired lifelong Waialua resident and member of the North Shore Neighborhood Board; and Ko'olauloa Neighborhood Board member Dawn Wasson, 64, a Hawaiian activist whose family has lived on the same La'ie land for seven generations.

Philips' Republican primary opponent is Gil Riviere, a Waialua mortgage broker well known in the community as a member of the North Shore Neighborhood Board and president of Keep The North Shore Country and Let's Surf Coalition.

Magaoay — running in a predominantly white, male majority district that leans Democrat — prevailed over Philips in 2002, 2004 and 2006. However, Philips has gained on Magaoay in recent years, cutting his margin of victory to only 175 votes in their last match-up.

Furthermore, this could be Magaoay's most challenging race yet coming in the wake of criticism he received following a series of newspaper articles that focused on his oversight of nonprofit grants-in-aid.

The criticism stemmed from Magaoay's ability to raise thousands of dollars in campaign donations from people with ties to the nonprofit community while playing a key role in deciding which nonprofits receive legislative grants.

Magaoay, 55, of Waialua, has denied any wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, Philips has tried to stave off some unfavorable press coverage of her own. In early August the candidate was arrested at her home in Hale'iwa and charged with a misdemeanor violation of a temporary restraining order.

Philips, 41, criticized the Honolulu Police Department's handling of the incident, saying police didn't verify the authenticity of a harassing e-mail sent to an unnamed male past acquaintance against whom she has a mutual restraining order.

Philips said the e-mail that resulted in the charge against her was forged and that she's the one who has been harassed. She's pursuing a complaint about the matter with law enforcement agencies and is convinced the charge will be dropped.

If re-elected, Magaoay says he would work for legislation to preserve and cultivate Hawai'i's agricultural lands. Philips would fight for laws to eliminate barriers to affordable housing.

Magaoay and Philips both believe a major issue facing the state and district is the spiraling cost of housing. Magaoay, an electrical engineer, would establish a housing task force that would produce measurable solution guidelines by 2010.

Philips, a small-business owner and former information specialist for the office of the governor, would rather modify a bill passed last year to allow a portion of agriculturally zoned land to be reclassified as urban to include up to 100,000 acres for affordable housing.

Among Magaoay's opponents in the primary, Lunasco said his top priority would be to curb government spending during Hawai'i's current economic downturn.

"The Legislature needs to put the brakes on spending until we have an accurate picture of our economic future," he said.

Wasson and Lunasco agree that development in the district has to be restricted. Lunasco would introduce legislation that would make it difficult for large land owners to urbanize prime ag lands. He also wants to eliminate tax breaks and credits "currently given to gentlemen estates masquerading as farmers."

Wasson, who considers development the single most pressing issue facing the district, believes residents have too little say in area projects, such as the controversial Turtle Bay hotel expansion plans. She would work to give people in the district a leading voice in how proposed developments would affect the community socially, culturally, politically and economically.

"We have to look at the holistic part of development, before we just rubber-stamp whatever the landowner wants to do," said Wasson, who operates a land title and genealogy research business.

She said she would take steps to ease the tax burden on resident homeowners while increasing taxes on speculators who don't live on their property.

Philips' Republican primary opponent, Riviere, 48, said his campaign slogan "Gil Gets It Done" accurately represents his style of ferreting out facts before commenting on a solution.

His coalition once forced the county to start obeying its own rules limiting North Shore surf contests.

"I'm not a person to talk about a problem until I'm willing to work for a solution," said Riviere, who says it's time for leadership in the 46th District that's focused on issues concerning the community — such as promoting agricultural incentives and lowering taxes to help financially strapped families make ends meet.

"I have a pretty good ability to understand complex subjects, to develop solutions, and then follow up until the job is done. I feel I would be a very good advocate for this community."