Elmore Anderson always gets a friendly greeting when he visits his favorite “;poke”; shop in Mililani, but the day after the election, even customers he didn't know embraced him.

“;That day, I walked in, and all the customers that were in there came up and said, 'Wow, we got a black president!'”; said Anderson, who is black, too. “;They were shaking my hand, everybody's shaking my hand, giving me hugs.”;

Anderson enjoyed the acclaim and kept the laughter going with his tongue-in-cheek rejoinder: “;Never mind shaking my hand, why not buy me a beer?”;

The scene in the poke shop has cropped up at other stores, bus stops, and meeting places across the state in the several days since Sen. Barack Obama became president-elect. Only 3 percent of the state's population is black, and some enthusiastic voters just couldn't contain themselves when they crossed paths.

It has been such an issue that at one local post office, a black clerk displayed a sign at her window saying “;Sorry. No politics. My vote is private.”;

Hawaii voters gave Obama the largest margin of victory of any state in the country, with nearly three out of four voters pulling for him. And the Hawaii-born politician does enjoy overwhelming support among African-Americans nationwide, with exit polls on Election Day showing he attracted more than 90 percent of their vote.

But some local residents said they were taken aback to be singled out on the basis of their color, however well intentioned, after the election.

“;I was buying bread at the store and a gentleman came up to me and slapped me on the shoulder and said it was a great day,”; said Theo Jones, a television news producer. “;I felt like saying, 'Yes, it's Wednesday!' But instead I said, 'Yes sir, it is.'”;

“;I knew he meant well,”; Jones said. “;But to me it was condescending. It's almost like when you're stereotyped for the wrong reasons. It might be better intentioned, but it's the same thing. I guess when you get 96 percent of the black vote, that's going to be everybody's assumption, that everyone's on board.”;

Chris Waiters, 25, had a similar experience, and said he was surprised because to him the presidential race was about “;who's going to help the country most, not who's white or who's black.”;

“;I was on the bus and a group randomly comes up and says, 'Hey, Obama's president! Finally a black man is in the White House,'”; said Waiters, who works in health insurance. “;It was kind of weird because I didn't know these people.”;

“;I just went along with it. They assumed I voted for him because I'm black. It's like a random question that keeps coming up. Whatever I did in the voting booth is my deal.”;

Stuart Dennis of Pearl City, a lifelong Hawaii resident who is black, said he is slightly troubled by the hoopla over electing a black president.

“;It's kind of sad to me, honestly, the reaction,”; he said. “;It shouldn't be a surprise. It should be no big deal. I'm in athletics so, to me, the best team wins. It's not a question of what race the team was.”;

But Dennis said he was pleased that Obama was able to galvanize young voters. His daughter, who's 21, called him from the mainland to declare that she had voted for the first time. “;She was excited,”; he said.

Dennis grew up in Hawaii, graduating from Aiea High School, and said he hasn't felt as if he were part of a small minority here. “;Between the military and the Hawaiians and the Samoans, they're all dark enough,”; he said. “;To us, we're all one.”;

Anderson, the “;poke”; devotee, looks at the local reaction to the election results with indulgence. The owner of Alii Auto Detailing grew up in Georgia and has been all over the world, but said he feels most at home in Hawaii and welcomes the shared excitement over Obama's victory.

“;It felt great,”; he said of the handshakes and hugs he got at Golden Mart Poke. “;I think a lot of folks just love Obama. He just gives you hope and inspiration and admiration.”;