U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois said yesterday that his experiences growing up among different cultures in Hawai'i helped inspire his political views.

Obama, who was born here and graduated from Punahou School, said his time in the Islands as a young man enabled him to see different perspectives and points of view. He said his local roots, which have helped attract dozens of volunteers to his campaign, have given him an advantage over U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York leading up to the Hawai'i Democratic caucuses on Tuesday.

"Not to pull rank, but I grew up in Hawai'i," Obama told The Advertiser by phone from Oshkosh, Wis., where he was campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination. "I know the people of Hawai'i. I know the problems of Hawai'i. I know the opportunities of Hawai'i. And the culture is my culture. I learned very early on in Hawai'i how to bring people together, all the different cultures and that spirit of aloha that's so important.

"And that means that, from a practical perspective, I'm going to be constantly listening to Hawai'i in a way that I don't think another presidential candidate would do. I've got extremely close relationships with the people of Hawai'i; my grandmother still lives there, my sister still lives there, so I think that people can count on me caring about Hawai'i in a way that is unique.

"This is the first opportunity in history for the people of Hawai'i to have somebody in the Oval Office who is one of their own."

Obama, like Clinton, has taken an interest in the Hawai'i caucuses as the importance of every delegate becomes magnified in their nomination fight. Twenty of Hawai'i's 29 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August will be awarded proportionally based on the results of the presidential preference poll Tuesday night.

Obama and Clinton have similar positions on the major federal issues facing Hawai'i, but what has distinguished Obama are his local ties and the energy around his campaign.

Obama released a statement in late January promising that, as president, he would sign a Native Hawaiian federal recognition bill that has been before Congress since 2000. Clinton made the same promise in a telephone conference call with Hawai'i reporters on Wednesday.

Obama also supports federal funding for a Honolulu mass-transit system.

"I think it's a high priority. Obviously, the H-1 and H-2 have just gotten very difficult for commuters," he said. "I've noticed it every time I travel back home. If I'm driving out to Mililani Town or driving out to the North Shore, you can just see that congestion has gotten worse and worse. And it's not good for the environment. It's not good for the economy. And it's obviously not good for people's quality of life.

"I've always been a big mass-transit supporter. It's something that I intend to emphasize when I am president."

Obama, like Clinton, said he would maintain military spending in the Islands and is cognizant of potential conflicts with the environment.

"I think it's important for us to ask these questions first from a national security perspective. And obviously, our bases in Hawai'i are critical to our national security. And I think that it is important for us to maintain those forces in the Pacific.

"But obviously, it's important for our military to be conscious of potential environmental concerns," he said. "And, in the past, I think, the military has not always been as conscientious as it could. I don't think there's a necessary contradiction there. I think it's just a matter of us making sure that we're paying attention to it."

U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i, who has endorsed Clinton and will campaign for her here this weekend, said he has known Clinton since she was involved in a universal healthcare proposal as first lady.

"I know Hillary Clinton and I think she'll make a very wise and strong president," he said by phone from Los Angeles. "She can begin working right away. And I think her heart is in the right place."

Inouye said he does not discount Obama's experiences in Hawai'i but noted they were limited mostly to his time at Punahou, an elite private school. Obama also typically visits his family every year at Christmas.

"If you ask the people in Hawai'i what they know about Barack Obama, I think the honest answer is, 'Very little,' " he said. "He went to school in Hawai'i but he went to Punahou, and that was not a school for the impoverished.

"I don't hold it against anyone who is a Punahou grad. It's a fine school. I would say one of the finest in the United States. But to suggest that Punahou maybe set his life plan in place, I find it very interesting."

Chelsea Clinton, Clinton's daughter, campaigned for her mother on O'ahu yesterday and will be out again today and on Maui tomorrow. The Clinton campaign also announced yesterday that 11 more state and county elected officials have endorsed Clinton.

They include state Sen. Rosalyn Baker, D-5th (W. Maui, S. Maui), the chairwoman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee; state Sen. Brian Taniguchi, D-10th (Manoa, McCully), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee; and Honolulu City Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz.

State Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha), and state House Majority Leader Kirk Caldwell, D-24th (Manoa), have already been campaigning for Clinton.

Local Obama volunteers, meanwhile, have planned a news conference this afternoon at the state Capitol to announce a new round of state House and Senate lawmakers who have endorsed Obama.

Over the next few days, both campaigns will ramp up get-out-the-vote operations for Tuesday. Clinton volunteers are linking with members of the Hawai'i Government Employees Association to phone bank today and tomorrow, while Obama volunteers have been working the phones for weeks. The Obama campaign also has district captains ready at all of the more than 60 caucus sites.

Although high-profile endorsements are coveted by the candidates, they do not always have the desired local magic.

U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who, like Inouye, is a senior and respected leader in the Senate, endorsed Obama yet Clinton won the Massachusetts primary on Super Tuesday. Inouye is behind Clinton in Hawai'i, but the landscape appears to favor Obama.

Kennedy and Inouye are both superdelegates who could help settle the nomination if neither candidate gets a majority of pledged delegates awarded by the caucuses and primaries.

"The power is with the people, and that's where it should be," Kennedy said by phone from Washington, D.C. "And that's what I admire. I think all any of us can do is give an opinion. But people ought to make a judgment. People ought to make the decision on this.

"And that's why I feel strongly that it's the pledged delegates, the ones that are won by the voters, are the ones that really ought to count."

Inouye, who will arrive back home today, said the caucuses are a unique opportunity for Hawai'i voters.

"I hope they will turn out," he said. "This is a great opportunity for us who believe in democracy. If people don't turn out to vote, democracy is weakened."

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com.