By Noelle Chun

There weren't any advertisements. And yet, one warm Saturday morning in May, in the middle of the Pacific, an unpublicized organizational meeting drew some 150 people to a sticky middle-school classroom. But who needs publicity when the project is about Hawaii's favorite son, Barack Obama, who was born in the Islands and graduated from high school in Honolulu.

But the Obama camp might not want to rest on its laurels. Among Hawaii's congressional delegation, nominee support is fractured. The state's senior senator, Daniel Inouye, announced two weeks ago he would support Hillary Clinton. Rep. Neil Abercrombie is supporting Obama, but Sen. Daniel Akaka remains quiet on the matter. "The Democrats in Hawaii are less and less cohesive," says Jim Shon, a political analyst and former state legislator.

Still many are pumped up about Obama's Hawaiian roots. "What's exciting is this idea of aloha being brought to the world," says supporter Lynne Johnson of Honolulu. "After growing up in Hawaii and Indonesia, Barack represents that tolerance and inclusiveness and mutual understanding."