I don't want to be a contrarian but I'm not sure that I agree with the assessment that almost everyone hired recently has been from the mainland. I think that may be true of certain classes, but not necessarily true as a whole with new hires over the last year or 18 months. In addition, as I've mentioned in previous posts, those of you who commute will find it does affect your quality of life, at least in the long run. Yes, there are a number of guys who do it, and yes, it can be done. I would suggest however, that those who live on the island have a better quality of life and schedule.
As an example, if you chose to commute and bunch up your work days to extend your stay on the mainland, be prepared for some back to back trips on the back side of the clock...after three or so of these...you're going to feel it.
My suggestion to those of you who want to consider Hawaiian is this...think of the long term opportunity here, and think in terms of how much you want THIS job, not just an airline job. There will be plenty of those out there on the mainland.