Hawai'i supporters of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign said yesterday they have raised about $460,000 from the Islands this year, including about $250,000 during the past quarter.

The money is a speck in Obama's $75 million national fundraising operation, which raised about $20 million in the past quarter. But it is a substantial sum for Hawai'i, which has not traditionally been a source of campaign money or a factor in presidential campaigns.

Comparable figures were not available for other presidential candidates, but no other campaign has had a visible fundraising footprint in the Islands. U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, visited Hawai'i last month and held fundraising events, but he is an acknowledged underdog who is not expected to match Obama or other leading candidates financially.

Local supporters of U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., who has won the backing of U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i, and state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha), have not actively been raising money in the Islands. Clinton has collected about $80 million overall and $27 million during the past quarter.

"I think it represents the kind of excitement that people here feel about him, and he has roots here," Obama supporter Chuck Freedman said of the fundraising for the Hawai'i-born Illinois senator.

Local Obama activists held a fundraiser last month at the Bishop Museum and have been raising money at smaller gatherings and through the Internet. Freedman estimated that the number of local donors is approaching 3,000.

The fundraising totals that local Obama activists have released are higher than the quarterly breakdowns of the state's presidential fundraising provided by the Federal Election Commission. The FEC breakdowns do not include contributions under $200.

Hanabusa, who is working on behalf of Clinton, said local activists are talking with the Clinton campaign about how money raised here could also be spent in the Islands. She said she believes the Clinton campaign will have a grassroots presence well before the Feb. 19 state Democratic caucuses.

"We're getting a lot of people who are coming forward in the party and picking sides," Hanabusa said.

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com.