Obama Wins in South Carolina With Swell of Black Support

WP: Obama Wins in South Carolina With Swell of Black Support
By Chris Cillizza

Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) scored an overwhelming victory today over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) in South Carolina's Democratic presidential primary with massive support from black voters.

Clinton finished second and former senator John Edwards of North Carolina finished third in a contest that sets up a full-scale clash between Clinton and Obama on Super Tuesday, Feb. 5. The vote climaxed several weeks of sometimes bitter personal clashes between Obama and Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, that seemingly contributed to the electorate polarizing along racial lines.

Obama, the first black candidate regarded as a legitimate contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, won African American voters by a four-to-one margin - numbers that nearly replicated his performance among blacks in Iowa and Nevada. Unlike in those two states, however, where blacks made up 4 percent and 15 percent of those voting, African American voters were more than 50 percent of the electorate in South Carolina tonight.

Among white voters, the candidates ran far closer, with Clinton and Edwards, a native of South Carolina, running neck and neck while Obama lagged slightly behind. But among black voters, Clinton's showing was modest and Edwards's was negligible.

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), the highest ranking African American in Congress, insisted that Obama's performance transcended a strong black vote, noting that he did relatively well among white voters. "In the last 48 hours, voters decided to reject the racial animus that seemed to be developing," said Clyburn in an interview with MSNBC moments after the race was called at 7 pm. Eastern time....

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/livecoverage/2008/01/democrats_face_off_in_south_ca.html

THANK GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Black people are waking up! OMG that's fantastic news! I don't care for Obama, but the fact that the sleeping giant vote of black people has awakened, that ROCKS!!!

and maybe that accounted for the assessment. I posted it here just for the record. In GDP, I posted a later NYT article that says Obama won with "a coalition of black and white."