DENVER — Last night's spectacular celebration of Barack Obama's nomination as the Democratic candidate for president of the United States was a cross between a rock concert, Super Bowl game and a massive tech-head convention.

There were fireworks, an overflowing 75,000-seat stadium alive with the flash of lights from cameras and cell phones texting away their support of the candidate, thumping music from pop stars such as Stevie Wonder and enough speeches to satisfy any political junkie.

What it wasn't, in any visible way, was a celebration of the fact that a son of Hawai'i has been nominated by one of the major political parties.

Obama has a lot to say and a lot to do, so there's reason he and his campaign spend little time on Hawai'i. But there appeared to be virtually no reference to the Hawai'i where he grew up.

It's not that Obama ignores his background or his compelling personal story. The struggles and sacrifices of his grandmother and grandfather, who had a large hand in raising him, are well detailed. In fact, he dedicated the night to his grandma "Toot" who "put off buying a new car or a new dress so I could have a better life."

But there was no mention that the "better life" began with an education at private Punahou School in Hawai'i that — even with scholarship help — put a strain on his grandparents' finances.

His African father, Barack Obama Sr., was acknowledged, and he made frequent references to his questing, free-thinking mother who would get him up at 4:30 in the morning for lessons and would battle insurance companies from her bed while she was dying of cancer at a young age.

But there was no mention that those early morning lessons were in Indonesia, where his mother moved with her second husband and where she would remain for a while when Barack went back to Honolulu to live with his grandparents and go to school.

And so it went. Hawai'i will have to come to grips with the fact that for America to accept Barack Obama, it will have to let go of its favorite son, at least a little bit. But that's politics. Obama has bigger fish to fry than to promote his Hawai'i roots.

Those other duties include making a political case that despite his inexperience and relative youth, he is a better candidate for president than Republican Sen. John McCain.

In fact, Obama's focus on that task may help explain why biography (and Hawai'i) got the short end last night.

Obama had a choice between a "lift hearts to the stars" kind of speech or a more political meat-and-potatoes talk where he lays out his ideas and where he differs from McCain.

He chose meat and potatoes over music and likely will be criticized for that. But if he had gone for the rhetorical fireworks, he would have been knocked for not doing enough to say what he stands for and why America should choose him over his Republican rival.

He'll get back to biography when the time is right. And, from the Hawai'i perspective, he should.

Sitting in end-zone seats in the massive Invesco Field, 20-year-old Mileta Gebre-Michael hung adoringly on every word Obama and the other speakers had to say.

Mileta shares a bit of biography with Obama: Her father, and mother as well, are also from Africa. They emigrated from Ethiopia to the United States, where she was born.

Between texting her friends and proudly waving her "Change" sign, Mileta took time to hear a little bit about the candidate's Hawai'i roots.

"Really?" she said. "I didn't know that. That's something new. I always thought he was from Chicago."