By Thursday, there were already murmurs going around - including a story in the state's biggest newspaper - that Tuesday's lopsided loss to Rep. Mazie Hirono was former Gov. Linda Lingle's political obituary.

Well, in a word, baloney.

Hirono ran a perfect campaign - she tied herself closely to President Barack Obama and Sen. Daniel Inouye in every ad she ran. The negative ads about Lingle pointed out she was not linked to those two Democratic legends - in fact, opposed them.

And, even without Hirono's finely tuned campaign, no Republican - not even Abraham Lincoln - could have won that Senate seat in Hawaii with President Obama heading up the Democratic ticket.

For, as well as Hirono did Tuesday, she did not match Obama's results in the state. Obama won 70.1 percent of the vote to 27.7 percent for Mitt Romney; Hirono racked up 61.6 percent of the vote to 36.8 percent for Lingle.

To say that Obama is Hawaii's favorite son is a massive understatement. His coattails were long. And Sen. Inouye is simply an icon here.

But writing off Lingle is a dream by some Democratic handler who has caught the ear of a reporter and the rumor mill.

In fact, the only chance the Republican Party has of ever becoming a viable force in the state is to get the only proven vote-getters - Lingle, Charles Djou and Duke Aiona - together to devise a new strategy for the GOP.

We would expect that after some consideration, Lingle will announce (like Mark Twain), "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."

She is a fighter and, without her, the Republican Party's rise from obscurity in Hawaii will be indefinitely delayed.

And, darn it, every state - even Hawaii - needs choices.

* Editorials reflect the opinion of the publisher.