Rep. Mark Takai Remembered in Honolulu for Service, Strength
Friends and colleagues remembered the late U.S. Rep. Mark Takai as a warm public servant who never gave up when facing adversity, paying their respects in a ceremony at the state Capitol as a soft rain fell and palm branches swayed in the breeze.
A singer chanted a Hawaiian prayer as Hawaii Army National Guardsmen carried Takai's flag-draped coffin into the open-air rotunda Thursday, where he lay in state surrounded by wreaths of tropical anthurium.
"Mark was a true patriot," said U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, who presented Takai's family with the flag that flew over the U.S. Capitol the day he died.
Former colleagues cried, bowed their heads and embraced as ukulele players strummed "Aloha Oe," a Hawaiian song performed to bid farewell. U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, who thought of Takai as a younger brother, draped a white ginger lei over his coffin.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/takai-remembered-service-strength-honolulu-ceremony-41499609
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This ought to be one hell of a special election, especially if a plurality takes it rather than there being a runoff! 
