Obama Wins South Carolina Primary
By DAVID ESPO and CHARLES BABINGTON,
AP Posted: 2008-01-26 20:20:18
COLUMBIA, S.C. (Jan. 26) -- Barack Obama routed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the racially charged South Carolina primary Saturday night, regaining campaign momentum in the prelude to a Feb. 5 coast-to-coast competition for more than 1,600 Democratic National Convention delegates.
The victory was Obama's first since he won the kickoff Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3. Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, scored an upset in the New Hampshire primary a few days later. They split the Nevada caucuses, she winning the turnout race, he gaining a one-delegate margin. In an historic race, she hopes to become the first woman to occupy the White House, and Obama is the strongest black contender in history.
About half the voters were black, according to polling place interviews, and four out of five of them supported Obama. Black women turned out in particularly large numbers. Obama, the first-term Illinois senator, got a quarter of the white vote while Clinton and Edwards split the rest.
Overall, Obama defeated Clinton among both men and women. "South Carolina voters rejected the politics of the past and they wanted something different," said Robert Gibbs, a spokesman for Obama.
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