He was certainly no boyish figure when at 37, Neil Abercrombie was first elected to the state House from Manoa, but the picture of him beaming with a bushy dark beard and pulled back long hair shows a man brimming of confidence.

One year earlier, Abercrombie had been awarded his Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii and now he was in the Legislature.

Describing his journey, Abercrombie has said his studies caused him to be moved by Hawaii’s history.

"So I was affected by all of that and felt profoundly grateful for the opportunity to live in Hawaii, and I set out at once to try to fit in," he had said in a previous interview.

His niche was as the fiery opponent. Even in his first political race, running for the U.S. Senate in 1970 against Republican Hiram Fong, Abercrombie’s real mission was to attack the U.S. role in the Vietnam War led by GOP President Richard Nixon.

A retired UH political scientist who worked with Abercrombie recalls that he excelled in the attack.

"Before he became governor — as a city councilman, state legislator and member of Congress for all of 40 years — he had the forum and the power to attack the establishment from the bully pulpit in all these debating arenas. And he excelled and reveled in this role," said the professor who asked for anonymity.

Moving up from the state House to the Senate, a momentary sojourn in Congress and then the City Council, Abercrombie found his career could not be based solely on the attack.

His legislative service included long work leading both Education and Higher Education committees. Abercrombie championed much of the initial construction of athletic facilities at the UH-Manoa campus quarry and was one of the lawmakers working to help investors when Manoa Finance collapsed.

Even when he was doing good for the voters, like supporting the late Mayor Frank Fasi’s Makiki Library, Abercrombie could go on the attack, such as his infamous "F*** you" letter to Noboru Yonamine, who was on the Board of Education at the time and opposing the library.

The rest of the story is that Yonamine actually contributed to Abercrombie’s 2010 campaign for governor, but Abercrombie’s shoot-from-the-lip reputation was sealed.

Abercrombie had more than just "fit in" by the time he was elected to his first full term in Congress. He was on his way to becoming a leader of Hawaii and Congress.

In 2007, with the Democrats in charge, Abercrombie was tabbed as chairman of a U.S. House Armed Services subcommittee.

Again it was time to attack. Asked about then-President George W. Bush’s plans to expand the war in Iraq, Abercrombie launched an attack on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, calling her "the most overrated, underperforming individual in executive authority that I have ever seen."

"She constantly gets a pass. Who knows if the whole question of race and gender come into it, but … I can’t account for it, except to say she isn’t up to the mark," Abercrombie said.

If Abercrombie was the warrior for Democrats — especially progressive Democrats — when he became governor in 2010, it was time to hang up the battle ax and instead bring out a tool kit to start construction.

But, as governor, Abercrombie’s former UH colleague saw trouble.

"When he became governor himself, which called for a different kind of role, he acquired the power himself and what does he do with it? He didn’t have the personality to exercise power himself, which he had always criticized. So having had no experience on the other side of the equation, he berated everybody," the professor said.

Others disagree.

"I have known Neil for 30 years — he made some courageous decisions such as bringing us back into special session to pass same-sex marriage," said Big Island Democratic state Sen. Gilbert Kahele.

Still, at the end of four years, Abercrombie was unable to go from Abercrombie the fighter, to Abercrombie the builder. Turned out of office and denied a second term in the Democratic primary, Abercrombie was unable to fit in his own Democratic Party.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.