"The last time I saw anything close to that was statehood. It made me very proud," said Inouye, 83, after he stood in line for nearly two hours to vote. "The fact that turnout was so extraordinary shows that democracy works."

Hawaii became the 50th state in 1959.

Only registered Democrats were eligible to participate in the caucus, but voters were able to join the party at the caucus itself.

In Paia on Maui, Jay Van Zwalenburg signed up with the Democratic Party just so she could participate in the caucus and cast a vote for Clinton.

"This seems like the only time I'm going to have a choice," she said.

More than 120 people lined up at Koko Head Elementary School in the Honolulu suburb of Hawaii Kai even before the doors opened.

Amy Monk, Hawaii Kai precinct chairwoman, said her caucus site ran out of party registration forms because too many people showed up who newly wanted to join the party.

Officials quickly made 100 copies of their sole remaining blank form. All but six of them were used.

Obama spent most of his childhood in Honolulu until he left for college on the mainland. He still has many local ties, including his maternal grandmother, who helped raise him, and a sister. The sister, Honolulu school teacher Maya Soetoro-Ng, has actively campaigned for Obama on Oahu and Maui.

Clinton, meanwhile, won the endorsement of the state's largest union, the 43,000-member Hawaii Government Employees Association, and Inouye, the dean of Hawaii politics.

"We're at a time when we need some change. I don't want to see another Bush or Clinton in the White House," said Waikiki voter Erik Wierschem, an Obama supporter and teacher at Roosevelt High School.

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On the Net:

Hawaii Democratic caucus results: www.hawaiidemocrats.org/