On the channel 8 website a recent article here: Obama Supporters in Hawaii Use Internet As Campaign Weapon speaks to the intense interest the Obama campaign is generating in Hawaii. Now bear in mind that although we are a small state, we are pretty sophisticated about some things, stardom, fame, notoriety are all ho hum part of the normal landscape for us since back in the day when we would find ourselves shopping for vegetables at Star Market along side Jack Lord or nowadays Dog the Bounty Hunter. On the other hand, I'll bet Beth shops for the vegetables in their family.
Anyway, the excitement in the media reflects the excitement in the electorate. We don't normally get all that excited at Celebrity. Obama is breaking the ho hum mode in Hawaii.
Close to two-thousand meet the presidental candidate at the town hall meeting, but he also speaks to thousands more across the country. He streamed his appearance live on the internet. And many in Obama's home state here in Hawaii gathered to be a part of the campaign.
"This is extraordinary," said Brian Schatz, chair of the Hawaii for Obama campaign. "I've been in politics ten years now, and most of the people in that room I had never met before."
The TV station KHNL (8) was even nice enough to publish a link to a very useful site put together by Obama volunteers. It is current on all the events and even gave up this valuable set of links to caucus times and locations:
So I am as an old timer, astounded at the buzz and the enthusiasm that the Obama candidacy has wrought in his home state. This morning on Kauai taking my granddaughter to school I listened to Linda Estes the Kauai Chair of the Democratic party and others talk about the upcoming caucus. She was concerned that they not run out of forms, party registration as well as ballot forms. The website for the Kauai Democratic Party is here.
I've decided to go to the caucus just to see who turns up. "Niele" (knee-ell-ay)in Hawaiian or as they say in English, curious (or nosy) that's why. I'll report here on the evening of the event for fun. But, I can already see the result, it'll be blowout for Obama.