The three leading contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination — U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina — have paid their filing fee to the Democratic Party of Hawai'i and will participate in the party's Feb. 19 caucuses.

Florence Kong Kee, the party's political director, said she also expects U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, who is popular among progressives in the Islands, to file with the party.

The caucuses are for Democrats, but people who are not registered with a party can sign up on or before Feb. 19.

The caucuses have had poor turnouts in the past and have been mostly ignored by the candidates, given the state's geographic isolation and the traditional focus on early primary and caucus states.

But Hawai'i Democrats are hoping for greater participation in February because of the quality of the candidates and the fact that Obama was born in Hawai'i and attended Punahou School.

Obama's local volunteers were at party headquarters yesterday afternoon to present the $2,500 filing fee. Local volunteers have raised nearly $500,000 for the Obama campaign and have been the most visible among the activists supporting presidential candidates.

"We think he's really transformed the political process in a positive way by energizing a whole new generation of voters and making people believe in the process again, making people believe in their government again," said Brian Schatz, a former state lawmaker and Obama volunteer.

Schatz said Obama will not make his customary visit to the Islands to his see his family for the holidays because he is concentrating on the critical Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3.

Kucinich, who finished second to U.S. Sen. John Kerry in the Hawai'i caucuses in 2004, has been the only Democratic candidate to campaign in Hawai'i.

Asked why Obama rarely mentions Hawai'i on the campaign trail, Schatz said the senator's experience in the Islands colors his overall perspective.

"He's very unself-conscious about the differences between races and people and very much understands the feeling of growing up in Hawai'i," Schatz said.

Top Democratic candidates to contend in Hawai'i party caucus

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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