The size of the victory and the huge turnout were impressive. Yesterday, Democratic Party officials were thinking over 10,000 people would show up. It was more than 37,000:
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama won a landslide victory in the state of his birth last night as an unprecedented turnout at the Hawaii Democratic caucus overwhelmed precinct volunteers and party officials.This year, so many states have had an impact and really mattered. Turnout has been amazing. Democrats are energized. Take a look at the turnout via CNN in Wisconsin, a key swing state in November: 1.1 million Democrats voted. McCain and the GOPers got just over 400,000 votes.
With 100 percent of precincts counted, Obama had 28,347 votes, or 75.7 percent, to 8,835, or 23.6 percent, for U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.
The tally totaled more than 37,000 votes, showing that turnout far surpassed even the highest estimates of Democratic Party officials.
Excitement about Obama, who graduated from Punahou School, raised interest in tonight’s caucuses to record levels. In comparison, the last caucus in 2004 had a total of nearly 4,000, which was considered a strong turnout.
You sure get the sense that Democrats are fired up and ready to go. (Full disclosure: I borrowed that line.)
