South Carolina and Super Tuesday

In a state with half the voters being African American, South Carolina is an essential state to win for any Democrat running for president. South Carolinians gave Bill Clintons 92 campaign new life when they decided he would make a better president than the current White House occupant of that time. But on the night of January 26th they chose the freshman Senator of Illinois, Barack Obama, over his rivals Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Senator John Edwards. This was a victory for a campaign that has lost 2 out of 3 contests, and was headed for a rough entry into Super Tuesday. How did Obama win South Carolina, why did Hillary lose, and what does this primary contest mean for Super Tuesday, and the general election? To understand what will come of this election cycle, we first need to understand what happened in South Carolina.

In South Carolina's Democratic primary, Sen. Barack Obama won 25 delegates, narrowing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's lead in the race for the nomination. Clinton won 12 delegates and former Sen. John Edwards won eight. This was important for Obama, he managed to gain diverse support among whites and crossing the generational gap among middle-age and senior black citizens with youth vote. Exit polls showed Obama won four of every five black voters, who made up more than half of the primary electorate. He also won one-quarter of white votes, higher than many had predicted. Edwards and Clinton, however, split the remaining white vote.

While back in august of 2007 Obama and Hillary both went from having a 10 point lead to being behind by 10 points. Obama enjoyed a 20 point lead beginning in mid January, but the lead closed in, and then gaining back a week before the South Carolina primary. More than 500,000 people cast ballots in the first Democratic primary in the South.

What does this mean for Super Tuesday?