on Jan 26th, 2008Obama clobbers Clinton
Illinois Senator Barack Obama has won the Democrats’ South Carolina primary in near-landslide proportions, with more votes than Hillary Clinton and John Edwards combined.
With 97% of the precincts reporting, Obama has 55% of the vote. Clinton is a distant second with 27% and Edwards is third with 18% in a day that saw huge turnout.
Exit polling conducted for the networks and the Associated Press found Obama beat Clinton among women and men. And, with President Bill Clinton a visible and vocal advocate for his wife’s candidacy, nearly six in 10 voters said the former president’s efforts for his wife was important to their choice, and among them, slightly more favored Obama than the former first lady.
The next major date in the nominating process is February 5, Super Tuesday, when more than a dozen primaries and half a dozen caucuses will be held.
And while The New York Times endorsed Clinton in this race, in tomorrow’s edition Caroline Kennedy endorses Obama. In an op-ed piece, she says he might be the president who can inspire people the way her father did.
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Congrats to SC for turning out to the polls!
re: the exit polls, it’ll be interesting to see how her campaign changes. Or, if it changes.
I think if I were in her shoes, I’d have had President Clinton take a lesser role, but thinking about it and actually being in the trenches . . .
It’s a tough new trail to be blazing!
@sage: indeed!
ella, This is just the most exciting Presidential time. Super Bowl and Super Tuesday coming right up! The results, then will be monumental. I’d better go look at the stew, now.
@sage - It will be interesting indeed…and I think you’ll appreciate today’s cartoon of the week. *wink wink*
@MusEditions - Exciting indeed, although I’ll confess I don’t know when the Super Bowl is. If I need to go to the supermarket on a Sunday, I check to see when the Patriots are playing because I know the store will be almost empty then!
ella,
Thanks for that link to Caroline Kennedy. I was inspired by Kennedy, too and I remember the feeling that I had when I heard Obama for the first time at the Democratic convention in 2004. My god here was a voice that carried hope like water from a well.
I wish there was some way for both dreams to come true in this election, we need a woman to break that last ceiling; we need to recognize that color is the least important determinant. Whoever gets in, I really hope he or she is going to find a way to include the other.
South Carolina proved two things for me. People are going to vote this time and black people are going be a part of it.
You’re welcome! I’m amazed and delighted by the enthusiasm and participation of young people because of Obama, and that has nothing to do with politics. I was happy to see young adults react similarly to Ronald Reagan (though why they did, I’ll never know). Politicians so rarely inspire and even though it’s not in the job description, I think we all benefit when they do.