U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois drew from a broad slice of Hawai'i voters at the Democratic caucuses Tuesday night, preliminary results show, but he did exceptionally well among young people and independents and in demographically shifting regions on the Neighbor Islands.

Obama swept all 51 state House districts in a comprehensive victory over U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York that attracted a record 37,426 voters to the caucuses.

Obama, who was born here and graduated from Punahou School, had solid numbers in traditionally Democratic districts but soared in many of the districts with the highest voter turnout. Thirteen districts had turnout in excess of 1,000 people, and seven of those districts were on the Neighbor Islands.

Obama had striking victory margins in districts such as Manoa, St. Louis Heights, Wai'alae and Lanikai-Waimanalo on O'ahu; Ha'iku and Pukalani on Maui; Hanalei on Kaua'i; and Kohala, Ka'u, Puna and Hilo on the Big Island.

Like on the Mainland, Obama was popular in districts with many higher-income whites and independents, but he also scored well with traditional Democrats despite the fact that U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i, and the Hawai'i Government Employees Association endorsed Clinton.

Local Clinton volunteers had thought Clinton would do better outside of urban Honolulu and on the Neighbor Islands, where traditional Democrats and labor unions have appeared to have more pull in recent elections, but Obama had higher numbers in many suburban and rural districts than in urban Honolulu.

"You don't make assumptions anymore about where you can get votes and where you can't get votes. There is no traditional Democratic district for him," said Brian Schatz, a former Makiki state lawmaker involved with the local Obama campaign. "Barack Obama has put every community and every state in play."

14 DELEGATES

The Democratic Party of Hawai'i announced yesterday that Obama would likely get 14 of the state's delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August based on the preliminary results of the presidential preference poll. Clinton would get 6 delegates. The remaining nine delegates are unpledged — or superdelegates — who do not have to commit to a candidate until the national convention.

The party will recount the ballots from Tuesday night with representatives of the Obama and Clinton campaigns on March 1 before announcing the final results.

State Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha), a local Clinton volunteer, said there is still a chance that Hawai'i's superdelegates will break for Clinton at the national convention and give her a larger share of the state's delegates.

Hanabusa said the Clinton campaign could not overcome Obama's local ties. She likened the turnout at the caucuses to the collective support the University of Hawai'i football team received during the march to the Sugar Bowl. "I think Obama's major selling point was that he was from here," she said. "The message that you just can't beat in Hawai'i is the 'local boy.' "

Party leaders had never had more than 5,000 people attend the caucuses and no one — including the most optimistic local Obama volunteers — predicted that turnout would be over 37,000.

The caucuses involved far fewer voters than in a typical Democratic primary — more than 238,000 people voted in the 2006 primaries, for example — and the local Obama campaign believes its superior organizing pushed turnout in many districts. Obama raised nearly $500,000 in the Islands, and his local campaign had more volunteers who began their operations much earlier than the local Clinton camp.

"The numbers show a big jump in some of the rural areas," said Florence Kong Kee, the party's political director. "This is positive for the party, this is awesome. The party has always been a big tent, where we have welcomed people. This is what we're all about."

The highest turnout of any district, surprisingly, was in East Maui, in growing and demographically shifting communities such as Ha'iku.

"It was just packed," said state Rep. Mele Carroll, D-13th (E. Maui, Moloka'i, Lana'i), who endorsed Obama. "I think people want a change. They're discouraged about what has happened in the past eight years."

'CHANGE FOR THE BETTER'

State Sen. J. Kalani English, D-6th (E. Maui, Moloka'i, Lana'i), who was neutral, said his campaign manager was actively helping Obama. "Obama's message resonated in my district," he said. "Not just change, but change for the better.

"He got a lot of people out that for the first time wanted to be part of the process."

On the Big Island, state Rep. Cindy Evans, D-7th (N. Kona, S. Kohala), whose district includes many independents and Republicans, said she thinks people wanted to have their voices heard. "My sense of my district is that they are people who don't like the status quo," she said. "It's not business-as-usual anymore."

Some observers who looked at preliminary results yesterday noted that Obama seemed strong in districts where Gov. Linda Lingle, a Republican, and former congressman Ed Case, a moderate Democrat, have been successful with messages that go beyond party labels.

Yet Obama also won big in districts in and around Hilo, which have long been home to traditional Democrats loyal to labor unions. "I think, like the rest of the state, the presidential race has generated a lot of excitement," said state Rep. Dwight Takamine, D-1st (Kohala, Hamakua, N. Hilo). "This is the one time the vote does make a difference."