Ananya Ray, a senior at Punahou School, said she and her friends are more curious about the presidential campaign this year because Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are confronting the delicate challenges of gender and race.

Her friends, like many in diverse Hawai'i, often break down boundaries by poking fun at their differences. She knows there is much more discomfort on the Mainland.

"I think we like to believe that it's not that important to us," said Ray, who lives in Manoa. "But it really does make a difference. Less so in Hawai'i because Hawai'i is called the melting pot. We have so many different races here, no one knows exactly what race you are.

"But on the Mainland, it's still a really big issue. And having the first black president or the first woman would be a huge milestone in America's history."

Clinton's slender victory over Obama yesterday in the New Hampshire primary establishes both as contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination and ensures that gender and race will be part of the conversation going forward.

At Punahou, Obama's alma mater, there has been heightened interest in the campaign and a measure of pride after the Hawai'i-born U.S. senator from Illinois won the Iowa caucuses Thursday.

Ray will turn 18 two weeks after the November election so she will not be able to vote. But for seniors such as Riley Fujisaki, who lives in Nu'uanu, who will cast their first vote, Obama's Punahou ties are only one of the considerations.

"Although we do have a lot of our friends that do support Obama, they try really hard to make sure that it's because of his principles and what he says, and not so much just because he was a Punahou graduate," Fujisaki explained.

"And that is important, because politics is about what you believe in."

Fujisaki said he wants to hear the candidates speak about how they would address the possible slump in the economy, set realistic benchmarks for progress in the Iraq war, and the extent to which they would use executive power in the White House. He also believes that issues such as gender and race are important beyond symbolism.

"We want someone in office who really understands who we are as a people," he said.

U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i, who has endorsed Clinton and may campaign for her in California, said he was pleased for the U.S. senator from New York and for the party because of the high voter turnout in New Hampshire.

"But the major challenge before us is how we conduct ourselves when this is all over," he said.

Asked about the implications of the campaign on perceptions about gender and race, Inouye said:

"I've always said it would be quite some time before humankind can rid itself of racism. It's unfortunately part of our life. I try my best to convince people and my colleagues. I think we're all trying our best, but events throughout the United States would indicate — and for that matter throughout the world — that we still have much further to go to learn how to live together.

"But I think the primary elections demonstrate, to a great extent, that discrimination may be minimized."

State Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha), a Clinton volunteer, said she believes people in New Hampshire saw Clinton differently after she became emotional this week on the campaign trail. She said Clinton may have been seen by some as too tough or unlikable, which is ironic, given that women in politics often have to overcome questions about their mettle.

"Women who seek these positions have to be able to prove and show that they can do the job," Hanabusa said. "And, in that process, sometimes what other people may find to be more important — the likability or the approachability — may be sacrificed. And I think she managed to balance the two very well, at least to the satisfaction of the people of New Hampshire.

"I think that's a phenomenal comeback."

In Hawai'i, local volunteers for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., also were encouraged by the New Hampshire primary results. McCain, after a fourth-place finish in Iowa, put himself into contention with his victory and spoke to voters' apparent desire for a change agent.

McCain, a former Navy pilot and prisoner of war in Vietnam, has friends in Hawai'i's large military community.

"I think it shows that money doesn't win elections," said state Rep. Kymberly Pine, R-43rd ('Ewa Beach, Iroquois Point, Pu'uloa), a McCain volunteer, referring to the campaign spending by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. "I think it's a sign of what's to come. Money is not going to buy this election, ideas will."

Kehau Kealoha-Scullion, a Punahou social studies teacher, said some at the school have used the presidential campaign as a teaching moment.

"What do these 21st-century candidates look like? They are very different in their political viewpoints. They are entrepreneurs of ideas, of goodwill, of political movements," she said. "They just look different."

Kealoha-Scullion was a year behind Obama at Punahou and moved in some of the same circles of friends.

"I think he had insight, even then, about what it meant to be a person that came from different worlds and about reconciling those differences for the better," she said.

"I have a hunch that Punahou and Hawai'i helped him reconcile and find flexibility in who he wanted to be."

Ray, the senior who lives in Manoa, interviewed Obama's teachers for a story she wrote as a freshman for Ka Punahou, the school newspaper. She said he was described as likable but not a star student.

"We always hear stories about how we can do anything," Ray said. "Well, this is proof that someone from these very halls didn't have to be a star pupil and can make it to the very top. If he can do that, any of us can do that."

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com.