As a spectator sport, the search for a Democratic candidate for governor keeps getting better and better.

Last week's big splash was the mini-boomlet behind labor attorney Tony Gill, son of former Lt. Gov. and U.S. Rep. Tom Gill.

The effort was pushed by, among others, several members of the Heen family, longtime players in the Democratic Party here.

Gill dropped out rather quickly, and in so doing offered up an intriguing statement that says a lot about the state of politics in Hawai'i these days. In effect, he said he was intrigued and flattered by the attention, but simply could not afford the time and loss of income a serious run would entail.

More to the point, Gill complained that the way major campaigns are operated, only a certain class of what might be called professional politicians can make the run. He put it this way:

"To run for a big office, you either have to have already made your fortune, already hold an office that in effect pays you to run, you have to have no expenses, or you have to have a fake job provided by a patron, and we don't like to talk about that last one. There aren't a lot of people who meet one of these criteria."

That's a sad commentary, but it contains a lot of truth.

And it may help explain why a gathering of major Democrats last week at the HGEA office failed to come up with a name or names.

The meeting (no smoke-filled room these days; nobody smokes) involved everyone from Sens. Daniel Inouye and Dan Akaka to leaders of the Legislature, party and union officials, and others.

Afterward, everyone said this wasn't a king-making session, but rather just a chance to sit down and survey the landscape.

The official message: There's still plenty of time, no need to panic. Inouye said it was useful just to get together to kick names and issues around a little bit.

Within a day, e-mails were circulating touting state Rep. Brian Schatz as a "sacrificial" candidate against the incumbent Linda Lingle. Schatz has been busy, not so much on behalf of himself, but in an effort to get someone of substance to run.

The electorate deserves a strong debate about the state and the direction it is going, Schatz argues. The best way to accomplish that is through a vigorous gubernatorial campaign.

And there's an important point in that. Over the years, the Republicans have had the unfortunate responsibility of running lost-hope campaigns against Democratic juggernauts. One can think of John Leopold walking the state in a low-budget effort against George Ariyoshi or Fred Hemmings' uphill campaign against John Waihee.

Those campaigns had little hope of putting the GOP in the governor's seat. But they created at least the semblance of a true political dialogue.

We need at least that much this upcoming election year. Who's ready?

Jerry Burris is The Advertiser's editorial page editor.

Reach Jerry Burris at jburris@honoluluadvertiser.com.