Obama Pulls Big Victory Out of South Carolina

Barack Obama crushed top rival Hillary Clinton in the South Carolina Democratic primary Saturday, in a victory that could reinvigorate his campaign after suffering back-to-back losses to the New York senator.

Early returns showed Clinton leading former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards for second place. With 20 percent of precincts reporting, Obama had 53 percent, Clinton had 27 percent and Edwards had 20 percent.

With race emerging as a key factor in the South Carolina contest, FOX News exit polls showed black voters went for Obama over Clinton by a huge margin of 81 to 17 percent, and 82 percent of black women supported the Illinois senator.

The Palmetto State primary was the last vote for Democrats before Super Tuesday Feb. 5, when 24 states hold primaries and caucuses for both parties. Obama, who won the lead-off Iowa caucuses Jan. 3, was looking for a fresh victory after placing second to Clinton in the New Hampshire primary and Nevada caucuses.

Polls showed Obama holding a strong lead ahead of the vote in South Carolina, but his campaign was cautiously optimistic since Clinton defied polls to win New Hampshire on Jan. 8.

Clinton’s campaign had carefully managed expectations going into South Carolina, actively reaching out to the state’s voters while accepting the possibility of defeat. Clinton left the state early to watch returns in Nashville, suggesting she was prepared for the loss.

A Clinton campaign memo Saturday said the race would swiftly shift to other state contests after South Carolina, and Bill Clinton had previously suggested that Obama’s race would favor him in the Palmetto State over Hillary Clinton’s gender.

Bill Clinton was, in fact, his own factor in the race, with 25 percent of voters saying his presence was very important. Among those voters, Hillary Clinton was winning 48 percent of that vote to 41 percent.

Race had been a constant subtext to the state’s primary, with earlier polls showing Obama taking a strong lead among black voters. But Obama was looking to score a win built on a diverse coalition of voters, proving he’s got broad appeal going into Feb. 5.

FOX News exit polls, though, demonstrated a racial split. Obama got just a quarter of the white vote, while his rivals split the rest.

Edwards, meanwhile, was seeking a strong showing in his home state, which he won during his 2004 bid for the party’s nomination. Though trailing overall, he did well among white voters, 39 percent to 36 percent for Clinton. Obama got 24 percent of the white vote, exit polling suggests.

Edwards, the former North Carolina senator, has yet to win a contest, and was looking for a nudge out of the recent bickering that had broken out between Obama and the Clintons.

“I think that voters are … sick and tired of politicians who spend all their energy fighting with each other,” Edwards told FOX News on Saturday.

South Carolina Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler on Saturday predicted a record turnout, which could top 350,000.

State Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire told FOX News officials saw more Democrats come out than during the GOP primary last week. It’s usually the reverse, since South Carolina is a solid red state.

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With race emerging as a key factor in the South Carolina contest, FOX News exit polls showed black voters went for Obama over Clinton by a huge margin of 81 to 17 percent, and 82 percent of black women supported the Illinois senator.

 

This shows how out of touch and insulated the media and campaigns are.  I was watching a political T.V show and the pundits were wondering if black women would vote for the woman or the black man.  I could have told you hands down them "sistas" were not going to vote for the white woman.   

No surprise there, but Hill will send Bill out on the road as a lightning rod to make his snide and nasty comments about Obama.  He'll draw all the heat, she'll smell like a rose, but the sh*t will have already been slung and done it's job.

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