Barack Obama won the South Carolina Democratic primary yesterday, taking 55% of the vote, winning by a greater margin than most pundits and recent polls had predicted. Hillary Clinton finished second with 27% and John Edwards came in third. The NY Times headline writes that he won by "forging a coalition of support among black and white voters in a contest that sets the stage for a state-by-state fight for the party’s presidential nomination."
Obama said to supporters, "The choice in this election is not between regions or religions or genders. It's not about rich vs. poor, young vs. old. And it is not about black vs. white. This election is about the past vs. the future. It's about whether we settle for the same divisions and distractions and drama that passes for politics today or whether we reach for a politics of common sense and innovation, a politics of shared sacrifice and shared prosperity."
Obama's win was thanks to 81% of the African-American vote, plus 25% of the white vote (Edwards won the white vote, with 39%, but only had 1% of the black vote; Clinton had 36% of the white vote). Many voters were not happy with the attacks between the two campaigns, especially Bill Clinton's involvement. The former president is getting hammered for referring to Jesse Jackson's 1984 and 1988 wins in South Carolina (which didn't ensure Democratic nominations):
Another reporter asked what it said about Obama that it “took two people to beat him.” Clinton again passed. “That’s’ just bait, too. Jesse Jackson won South Carolina twice, in '84 and '88. And he ran a good campaign. Senator Obama's run a good campaign here, he’s run a good campaign everywhere.”
Oh, brother. Bill Clinton did say Obama won "fair and square" (Hillary Clinton herself didn't really make a S.C. concession speech - she was in Nashville where she gave mostly a stump speech).
Now that both Clinton and Obama have won two primaries each, the Washington Post points out "the candidates face the possibility of an extended conflict that aides in both campaigns said Saturday could stretch into March or even April." The first big showdown is February 5, which is Super Tuesday when delegates from states like California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, are up for grabs.
And speaking of New York, New Yorker and former First Daughter Carolyn Kennedy has an op-ed in the NY Times, endorsing Obama. Here's an excerpt of the piece, titled "A President Like My Father":
OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.
