I have served in the Senate since December 2012 with seats on the Appropriations and Commerce committees and previously served as the lieutenant governor and in the state House. These positions provided me insights on Hawaii's priorities and how to effectively work with stakeholders to achieve meaningful results.

I think it accrues to Hawaii's benefit that I have friends in Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin. We're already geographically isolated, so it's really critical that we don't become politically isolated.

Local Arab partners and the Iraqi government must lead the fight against ISIL. U.S. military advisers are important to this effort, but we cannot be engaged in combat operations. That is why Congress must revoke the previous war authorization and define our appropriate role in defeating ISIL.

The tendency among Democrats, especially after a devastating loss, is to come up with either a new individual to lead us, a new strategy, a new slogan.

Climate change is also clearly a matter of huge interest and concern for the scientific community.

If 98 out of 100 doctors tell me I've got a problem, I should take their advice. And if those two other doctors get paid by Big Snack Food, like certain climate deniers get paid by Big Coal, I shouldn't take their advice.

Self-imposed discipline with a bent towards results rather than 'creative' and sustainability spending is unfortunately not the norm in the marketing industry.

If you compare Everest photographs in 1953 with its current state, things are melting. I imagine if I were a golfer in Indiana, I'd be hard-pressed to believe in climate change because nothing's going on there. But when you're up in the mountains and seeing the glaciers melt away, it's an obvious physical manifestation of a warming planet.