U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois may visit Hawai'i next month before the Democratic National Convention in Denver, sources said yesterday.

Obama's campaign, through local spokesmen, would not confirm the stop other than to say the Hawai'i-born senator has family ties in the Islands and intends to run a 50-state presidential campaign.

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, said the hope is Obama would come for a brief vacation and a few events before the convention and the intensity of the fall campaign.

But the congressman cautioned that he was not confirming a visit.

"It would be wonderful. It would be grand," the congressman said. "It would be our chance just before the convention to give him some aloha."

Local Obama volunteers have been hoping for a visit since he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination. Obama, who graduated from Punahou School and whose sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, and grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, live here, told local reporters earlier this year he wanted to come back.

Obama typically visits his family in the Islands during the holidays but has not been here since December 2006 because of his campaign schedule.

Chuck Freedman, a local Obama volunteer, said an Obama visit would be a "great shining moment for Hawai'i."

"We're hoping he's coming," he said. "But we have not been told officially from the Obama campaign whether he's coming or not."

Obama has visited every state except Hawai'i and Alaska during his campaign.