Overwhelming support from black voters fueled Senator Barack Obama to a decisive win over Senator Hillary Clinton in South Carolina's primary, a boost to his campaign just 10 days before a coast-to-coast presidential nomination competition in which nearly half the US states will vote.
Former senator John Edwards, who has yet to win any of the early state contests, finished third on Saturday, a sharp setback in his native state, where he triumphed in the 2004 campaign.
Landslide margins among black voters fueled Obama's win, allowing him to overcome the edge that Clinton and Edwards had among whites in the first southern state where the Democrats competed. The turnout of more than half-a-million voters was a new record for the state party.
The Democrats quickly shifted their focus to Feb. 5, when 22 of the 50 states will hold contests in a virtual nationwide primary dubbed "Super Tuesday." The races offer more than 1,600 convention delegates, a huge amount toward the total of 2,025 delegates needed to secure the party nomination. South Carolina offers 45.
Clinton flew to Nashville on Saturday as the South Carolina polls closed.
"Now the eyes of the country turn to Tennessee and the other states voting on Feb. 5," she said, adding that "millions and millions of Americans are going to have their voices heard."
Even as he savored victory on Saturday in South Carolina, Obama had his sights on Super Tuesday.
"Nearly half the nation will have the chance to join us in saying that we are tired of business-as-usual in Washington, we are hungry for change, and we are ready to believe again," he said at his victory rally.
Edwards said on Saturday night that he is forging ahead to next month's primaries with a belief that the "dynamic could shift at any time."
But, he acknowledged: "To win the nomination, I've got to win a contest, of course."
South Carolina's Democratic race was particularly significant for Obama, who is aiming to become the country's first black president, because it was the first contest in which blacks were expected to be a large factor in the outcome.
The runup to the primary was marked by a week of mud-slinging between Clinton and Obama, with the two candidates exchanging pointed jabs and accusations as Clinton's husband, former president Bill Clinton, weighed in on his wife's behalf. That prompted Obama to complain that he felt he was running against two Clintons.
The loss was not unexpected for Clinton, although she is the leader in national polls. Her husband downplayed the likelihood of her carrying a state where Obama would carry the support of blacks. Each side accused the other of playing the "race card."
Clinton campaign strategists denied any intentional effort to stir a racial debate. But they said they believe the fallout has had the effect of branding Obama as "the black candidate." By week's end, one poll indicated that Obama's support among whites in the state had dropped sharply.
Blacks accounted for about half of the voters, according to polling place interviews, and four out of five 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.
"The choice in this election is not about regions or religions or genders," Obama said at a boisterous victory rally. "It's not about rich versus poor, young versus old and it's not about black versus white. It's about the past versus the future."
The audience had chanted "Race doesn't matter" while they awaited Obama's appearance.
Nearly complete returns showed Obama winning 55 percent of the vote and Clinton gaining 27 percent. Edwards had 18 percent and won only his home county of Oconee.
Obama also gained 25 convention delegates, Clinton won 12 and Edwards eight.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from