A complex mix of personalities, career ambitions and individual motivations led to the defeat of civil unions for gay couples in Hawaii.
In the end, it was a political soap opera, full of emotion, strong characters and plot twists.
Some of the reasons state senators voted to scrap the measure Wednesday had more to do with politics than principle.
How else could 18 of 25 Democratic senators claim to support civil unions but only six record "yes' votes in public?
How else could the Senate's two-man Republican minority come out the victor before a cheering crowd of civil union and gay marriage opponents in the Senate gallery?
Among the majority in the Democratic Senate that opposed holding a full Senate vote was Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, D-Nanakuli-Makua, who balks at the suggestion that she's a puppet master controlling the direction of the entire Senate.
