The Hawaii caucuses have begun and will take place at 81 caucus sites throughout the state. Interestingly, while the caucuses usually last just a half hour, this year they'll continue "as long as there is a consistent influx of participants." Hey, if you're going to hold a caucus, this is the way to do it:

"We're going to keep it open," said Florence Kong Kee, the party's political director. "We don't know when this kind of interest will happen again. This is history right now."

Conventional wisdom is that the Hawaii caucuses favor Barack Obama because of his traditional strength in caucuses so far this cycle and, not insignificantly, he was born there, but Clinton has her strengths in the state as well.

From The Chicago Tribune:

Local volunteers for Clinton believe she may be stronger outside of urban Honolulu and on the Neighbor Islands, where traditional Democrats and labor unions appear to have more influence. Most of the grassroots activity and energy, however, are behind Obama, who was born here and graduated from Punahou School.

Higher caucus turnout would generally favor Obama.

Obama also has the benefit of a local family connection: his half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, still lives there and has been headlining rallies on his behalf.

"I'm not quite as compelling as he is but I do my best," said Soetoro-Ng, who added she believes Obama's island identity will resonate with voters.

"I'm hoping that the people of Hawaii understand that he shares their rhythm and perspective, their view of the world as complex, their sense that diversity is gorgeous," said Soetoro-Ng.

Barack Obama is running ads in Hawaii while Hillary Clinton is not. In addition, he has been endorsed by nine-term U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie.

In Clinton's favor is her daughter Chelsea who has been traversing the state campaigning for her mom as well as Senator Daniel Inouye who has endorsed her and could hold sway with traditional Democrats.

The state's most powerful Democrat, longtime Sen. Daniel Inouye, has endorsed Clinton, as has state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, considered a rising political star here. [...]

Though there have been no polls conducted to show any trends here, Inouye's appearance to bolster Clinton's chances heightens the drama, according to Ian Lind, a local political blogger and former activist. It's the first time in 40 years that Inouye has involved himself in Hawaii's caucuses.

Anyone care to add any local flavor? Not sure I'll be up still when results do come in but if you are, feel free to throw them in the comments.

Update [2008-2-20 3:4:44 by Todd Beeton]:This dailyKos diary has a nice recap of a caucus in Hana, HI.