Obama family arrives in Hawaii, campaign stays home

By Jeff Mason

HONOLULU (Reuters) - It's not a battleground state and it's unlikely to tip the U.S. election in November, but White House hopeful Barack Obama came to Hawaii on Friday -- minus, largely, his presidential campaign.

The Democratic candidate, his wife Michelle and their two young daughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, are vacationing in the state where Obama grew up and where his grandmother, who helped raise him, still lives.

Though it is not supposed to be a working trip -- most of his staff stayed behind -- Obama held a quick rally to mark his return to his childhood home.

"Aloha!" he told a crowd in Honolulu. "I'm actually on vacation," he said before launching into parts of his standard campaign speech, sprinkled with tidbits about Hawaiian culture and the places he hoped to visit while here.

"I'm going to go bodysurfing at an undisclosed location," he joked.

The Illinois senator will spend the week at a rented house and, other than the welcoming rally and a fund-raiser next week, no other major campaign events are planned. He told reporters he would be working on his speech for the upcoming Democratic convention during his time off.

Work and play aside, the trip does have risks. Less than three months before election day, any time away from voters could be seen as time wasted.

And, though there are no major gaffes to avoid like on his recent trip overseas, there are potential pitfalls: pictures in a bathing suit, for example, or a sense among voters that a Hawaii holiday is another sign of perceived elitism.

"He needs to be very careful," said Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. "Some of those undecided middle class voters, or even working class voters who didn't go for Obama in places like Pennsylvania and Ohio, won't like images of Obama on the beaches of the ultimate luxury destination."

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic nominee, was filmed windsurfing and had trouble shaking Republicans' elitism charges associated with the image.

Obama is unlikely to fall into that trap. He acknowledged some concern about taking time off but said that was offset by the need for some family time and a desire to visit his grandmother, who he went to see directly after the rally.

MCCAIN SPOTLIGHT BACK HOME

Republican rival John McCain sees his Democratic candidate's absence from the spotlight as an opening.

A spokesman for the Arizona senator, who has been pushing Congress to cut short its summer break and return to Washington to work on energy issues, needled Obama for heading to Hawaii's sun.

"Instead of calling on his friends and allies in Congress to return to put a much-needed energy policy in place to fight sky-high gas prices, Barack Obama is joining them with a beach vacation of his own," said Tucker Bounds.