By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - By one measure, Warren Buffett is coming off his worst year ever. But by another measure, the investor may be more popular than ever.

Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N: Quote, Profile, Research) (BRKb.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Buffett's insurance and investment company, expects a record 35,000 people to attend its annual meeting on Saturday.

That's up from 32,000 last year, a crowd that was already bursting the seams of the Qwest Centre in downtown Omaha in what has become known as "Woodstock for Capitalists."

The main event features five hours of questions and answers with Buffett, 78, and his longtime, rather less-inhibited number two, Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, 85.

"They should go down in history for accomplishing what they did with honest principles," said Ernie Petrocine, 58, an owner of two retail clothing stores in Estes Park, Colorado, attending his 16th meeting. "Buffett has a common sense approach to the world. It might be a real simple thing you've heard 1,000 times, but when he says it, it's profound."

Buffett, the world's second-richest person, is coming off a tough year for Berkshire, when its book value per share fell 9.6 percent in 2008, the biggest drop in Buffett's 44 years at the helm. And Berkshire's Class A shares closed on Wednesday at $93,400 (63,304 pounds), down nearly 40 percent from their peak of $151,650 in December 2007.

"I expect a more serious tone this year," said Bill Bergman, an equity analyst at Morningstar Inc in Chicago, who is attending the meeting. "Berkshire investors aren't used to a 40 percent decline in the market value of their shares."

Berkshire issued about 100,000 shareholder credentials for this year's annual meeting, spokeswoman Carrie Kizer said. Typically, about 35 percent are used.