Obama, Clinton Expected to Draw Record Numbers at Hawaii Democratic Caucus
By MARK NIESSE | Associated Press | Feb 20, 08 1:42 AM CST in
Politics
Democratic voters flocked to Hawaii caucus sites by the thousands on Tuesday as party officials predicted a record turnout in the contest between Honolulu-born Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
About 1,000 people lined up outside Thomas Jefferson Elementary on the edge of Waikiki to cast their ballots.
Many said they were participating in a caucus for the first time and felt compelled to show up because Hawaii's delegates might help decide the Democratic nominee.
Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, who has been voting since 1948, said the turnout was the biggest he's ever seen.
"For the first time we have a woman against an African-American. What more do you want?" asked Inouye, 83, as he stood in line to vote.
Party leaders have printed out 17,000 ballots and were prepared to start using blank sheets of paper if they ran out. The last caucus drew just 4,000.
About 5,000 people have signed up with the state Democratic Party since Super Tuesday two weeks ago, bringing the party's total membership to about 25,000 statewide.
Only registered Democrats are eligible to participate in the caucus, but voters can join the party by showing up at the caucus.
More than 120 people lined up at Koko Head Elementary School in the Honolulu suburb of Hawaii Kai even before the doors opened.
John Messerly, a 52-year-old former software engineer, sported a blue Obama baseball cap as he stood in line.
"Obama talks like a Hawaii guy and people really get that. He brings all his aloha spirit across the nation," he said. "Especially after the divisiveness of the last decade."
Obama spent most of his childhood in Honolulu until he left for college on the mainland. He still has many local ties, including his maternal grandmother, who helped raise him, and a sister. The sister, Honolulu school teacher Maya Soetoro-Ng, has actively campaigned for Obama on Oahu and Maui.
Clinton won the endorsement of the state's largest union, the 43,000-member Hawaii Government Employees Association, and Inouye, the dean of Hawaii politics.
The eight-term senator returned to Hawaii to campaign for Clinton over the weekend. Inouye even joined other volunteers at a Clinton phone bank to call likely supporters and encourage them to caucus.
Clinton supporter Jura Landfield, a 57-year-old retiree, said she backed the former first lady because she might be the nation's first female president.
"The only reason I'm here is because it's Hillary. It's the first time I'm even voting Democrat," she said.
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