Obama 1% below Hillary among white men, who went overwhemlingly for Edwards

Before any votes came in? Do we really trust exit polls that much?

This is like losing on the road in college hoops and hearing the Over-Rated cheer as your getting blown out..

Umm, Billary played the race card. Listen to Slick Willies comment about Jesse Jackson today. The closet bigot is coming out...

3 Wins
0 Losses
1 Tie

This is INSANE.

It's

2 Obama
3 Hillary

Only if the gap is pretty large, Mike.

South Carolinians rejected a politics of division, fear, and animosity.

So hope trumps fear, unity trumps division. Fellow Obama supporters, let's remember that it's the hope and unity that will win this. We need to be firm in responding to attacks, but no more. Most HRC supporters are decent folks, and they need to feel welcome.

Yup, old Bill just looked like a stereotypical southern white bigot. I have never voted for one of them. Obama won young voters. Perhaps, young old stereotype too.

Not only he does better among whites than expected but he does as well as Clinton among white men according to exit polls. White women is where he lags a bit.
God Bless America !

Wow. Those numbers correspond to over 50% of the vote for Obama. That could be indicative of a very substantial blow-out, especially since the Hillary-Edwards contest is deemed too close to call. A 20-point lead is plausible on this basis (50-30-20).

It looks like Clinton should beat Edwards, if the exit poll is relatively accurate - Hillary's residual support among Blacks, combined with losing slightly to Edwards among Whites, should give her second.

Anonymous thinks 3-0-1 is "INSANE"

Well anon is among those Americans who look to politicians who tell them what they want to hear not what they need to hear
WINS
SC
IA
NV (13 to 10 delegates)

TIE
New Hampshire (9 to 9)

Now let's be rid of The Clintons

Jesse Jackson Jr. saying Hillary didn't cry for the people in New Orleans.

Was this actually reported in the media? I've never even heard of this before. If this was what constituted Obama "playing the race card" he didn't play it very effectively, since I follow politics pretty closely and never heard this before.

Here's what I love about old Bill.

Two days ago he's all self righteous and redfaced about the media bringing race into the discussion. But two days is a long time for him to keep the same story.

Cut to a question about team Clinton's campaign strategy in South Carolina this morning:

Another reporter asked what it said about Obama that it “took two people to beat him.” Clinton again passed. “That’s’ just bait, too. Jesse Jackson won South Carolina twice, in '84 and '88. And he ran a good campaign. Senator Obama's run a good campaign here, he’s run a good campaign everywhere.”

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/01/26/611927.aspx

Good to see that South Carolina didn't buy it. I'm guessing the rest of the country won't either in the long run.

That won't stop ClintonCo. from pushing the Jesse Jackson model for this blowout victory. But I hope everyone smells what they are cooking and sends it back to the kitchen.

Obama '08

[i]c wrote on January 26, 2008 7:12 PM:
Only if the gap is pretty large, Mike.

South Carolinians rejected a politics of division, fear, and animosity.

So hope trumps fear, unity trumps division. Fellow Obama supporters, let's remember that it's the hope and unity that will win this. We need to be firm in responding to attacks, but no more. Most HRC supporters are decent folks, and they need to feel welcome.[/i]

Love your comment, and I agree with you 100%, c!!

Looks like some of the whites who could have gone to Edwards went to Obama instead

Wow it appears Obama will blow out the First Black President.

Also, Obama tied Hillary on white male voters. The Clinton's get no spin outta this.

Obama can't win Iowa! There are almost no blacks there!

A lot of people are saying that without saying that.

Anonymous wrote on January 26, 2008 7:07 PM:

Yawn.....thanks for playing the race card, Obama. No more black states. Now go back to the Senate.

If the exit polls are accurate, Obama would've won even if the electorate had been 20% Black.

But I guess if you want to get some perverse excitement about the fact that Black voters won't have much of a say in this election going forward, go ahead.

This was after the loss in NH, before NV....here he mentions SC....mentions race.

Folks, this is where the race game began

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8708524937593713664&q=jesse+jackson+jr&total=80&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

You combine tonight's results with The current national trends, and I'd say that's a pretty clear repudiation of the Clinton tactics.

My faith in humanity is somewhat restored after tonight. Thank you South Carolina.

It appears Obama's race card played very well in SC. Congratulations! May you conitnue winning black votes like this. this kind of margin is unhealthy, very unhealthy. One has to wonder do teh black people think?

68% of White voters say Clinton unfairly attacked Obama!

Anonymous wrote on January 26, 2008 7:26 PM: "If the exit polls are accurate, Obama would've won even if the electorate had been 20% Black."

Not a chance in hell. SC was target a racial pickup by the Obama campaign after the loss in New Hampshire. Enjoy your moment while it lasts. He's going to be crushed on Super Tuesday.

I don't understand your response. I made a statement that follows from the exit poll numbers, you say "not a chance in hell," and then support your claim with a non sequitur.

If you think the numbers come out differently, let me know.

Don't feed the troll. Don't feed the troll. Don't feed the troll.

"Do you realize that you called a great president a bigot?"

He was a good, not great President and I did not call him a bigot. Here is what I will say. The Clinton's entire record supports the proposition that their ethics are... elastic. He doesn't have to be a bigot to play the race card and he is not a bigot.

However, he is totally capable of making statements, like the one he made, out of left field in relation to the question that label Obama as "the Black Candidate". He has done it before. He will do it again. He will then deny it in the most self-pitying and self righteous way imaginable. It's who he is, it's what he does.

That's not why I'm voting for Obama but it is why I can't bring myself to pull the lever for her.

Keep dreaming, John. And keep drinking the Obama Kool-Aid.

Obama:

SC
IA

Clinton:

New Hampshire
Michigan
NV

Yawn all you want, HRC supporters, but the Clintons put a lot of effort into SC, and were completely crushed.

"The Hateful, I mean, Hopeful, Obama folks"

"Republican loving"...you my friend spew the vitriol representative of the republican party.

No wonder HRC is trying to make Florida count now. They saw a blowout coming. The DNC needs to put it's foot down.

Everyone,

Please let the Anonymous troll continue to talk about his strange whites-only world.

There is no sense to engage with him except to point out that the 25% completely, completely decimates any "black state" spin.

is anonymous really Jake?

No surprise. Now marginalized, Obama might win 1-3 more primaries, fairly similar to Jesse Jackson years ago but looking at the bigger picture, he loses overall. But, even if losing outright to Clinton in the race for delegates, he and his predominantly Black constituency will be a player at the convention.

For better or worse, except for Edwards, I do not see SC as having much impact. Whatever Obama gains in SC will be eclipsed by Clinton's 50+% win in Florida next week.

Now, I still wonder how he handles the upcoming Florida debate? Does he concur with enfranchising 4.1 million registered Democrats in Florida (he is on the ballot, so the argument against Michigan does not apply). Or, does he say No, that these 4.1 million Democrats have no vote?

Matt,

Lol. Yeah, lets change the rules a few days before the game. Idiotic spin that won't be bought...

Matthew,

Florida is denied any delegates to the convention by the DNC and the candidates signed a pledge to not campaign or advertise in Florida. This means that, by definition, Florida is meaningless this year.

Hillary can't win if the tone is changed to "nice." That's what she found out in Iowa. When everything's civil, Team Clinton loses.

Young whites in South Carolina, it should also be said, are wild! for Obama.

Obama won S.C. 56 delegates....but NY has over 250, NJ has over 100 CA over 300... Hillary is leading in these state... Can't wait to vote for Hillary on Feb 5. Will vote for any Democrat in November. Mc Cain wants to keep this war going for the next 100 years. God help us.... So Congrats to Obama..

I see Matthew has Billary's talking points.

Obama won the white vote among younger voters. There is the future. Billary only lead among voters over 65. Those are the same voters who are going to just love McCain.

Billary has been running a campaign looking backward. When has that ever inspired Americans?

The Clinton's trying to change the rules a few days before the Florida vote will just make them look even more arrogant... More power to them. They think they're bigger than the party.

Annonymous 7:31

Bill, too much viagra dude. Chill!

I have long advocated for Clinton to skip SC. 50% of primary voters are black. Even Jackson has won handily here. Her time would have been spent better elsewhere.

I guess the Clintons unfortunately bought into the euphoria of Clinton being the first black president. The fact is when there is a comparison between counterfeit and real thing, people always choose the real thing. bill has overestimated his influence in the black community.

The deck won't be stacked in the other states for Obama. The negs were 74% for Obama and 77% for Clinton but 87% still voted for Obama so the Black vote was racial. Blacks said they saw no difference between the two people, so they voted for race. This won't be the case on Super Tuesday. Obama has played the race card with the MSM for the last time. He won SC but at what cost. Put a fork in him.

Bill Clinton is now speaking. Interestingly, before Hillary has spoken.

I guess that makes sense. Bill's now making Hillary's concession speeches.

"Meanwhile, nobody's paying attention to how inexperienced Obama is. Great."

You mean Obama, the candidate who has about 5 years more legislative experience than HRC?

Obama got double Hillary's vote! Haha, BAM!!

If Obama is our nominee and if he can mobilize the African American vote in the south, we could actually win these states for once in the general!

We have such an opportunity here, we can't blow this!!

Listening to Bill after hearing Hillary's concession. Both gracious. Note already, focus is on Florida and Feb. 5th. SC makes a nice win for Obama, but a footnote overall.

And for everyone's anger over Florida, recall that Obama is advertising there against the agreement. His name is on the ballot. Democrats need Florida's voters in the fall. Obama is in a catch-22 by his on inexperience against Clinton. This is all politics, good, normal, and whining only shows inexperience, inmaturity, and lack of readiness for a national campaign against a Republican who will seek every advantage as well. Again, does Obama agree to support enfranchisement or does he deny Floridian's the vote.

And can the characterization about me. Yes, I support Hillary, but I'm not oblivious of the pluses and minuses each candidate brings to the table. And, yes, I'm deeply offended by Obama's references to Reagan and Republican's over Democrats and Clinton; equally offended by his and Oprah's race card. He made that bed and now he gets to sleep in it. By the way, I supported and worked on Jesse Jackson's campaign in 1984 so don't bother with the stupid racial characterizations. They don't fly.

Matthew, if you are such a veteran you should know what Obama meant. Reagan lead to a political realignment. That hadn't happened since FDR. You realign parties and the country with major themes not with cults of personality. The Clintons are the party of the Clintons. Reagan was the party of movement conservatism. I don't see Obama as a transforming leader in the ideological sense because he's a leader for "change" without a movement to back it up. But don't kid yourself that the Clintons stand for anything. We're supposed to pine for them because of the dot.com bubble I guess. What else did they do? NAFTA?

I am VERY disappointed that Edwards did not beat Hillary. He is a fine candidate, but my disappointment comes primarily from wanting to see the Clintons lose. In fact, I want to see them humiliated. My "Clinton hating" has emerged only in the last two weeks.

I am very close to wishing for Hillary to win the nomination, so that she and Bill will face the Republican attacks. It would be like the Super Bowl of nasty, dirty politics, or a demolition derby that leaves everyone damaged. I really want to see Hillary's bring it on bravado on the receiving end of a Republican onslaught.

I love America, however, and could never wish for that deep partisan warfare and the damage it would do.

ChangeNow, it doesn't matter the substance of what Obama said or intended to say. The bottom line is he ranked Republicans and Reagan over Democrats and a successful 2-Term Democratic president. Reagan, like Bush now, should have been impeached. Reagan was opposed to so many things Democrats hold dear. Let's see how much traditional Democratic union vote Obama now gets.

And the anti-Clinton propaganda pushed by Republicans and bought into by so-called Democratic bloggers and commentators on these blogs reflects VERY poorly upon their role in the Democratic party.

It is good that Obama won so well in SC. Hopefully these folks come out to vote in the fall. But, you can't miss that Obama, especially with Oprah's brief help, played the race card big time. For Obama and even for the party this is bad. First, Obama was questioned by Blacks about whether he was Black-enough, now, answering this, he's now challenged with whether he is a Black-only candidate and marginalized. Look at the big state polls. Today's great win today is almost reversed in all of these future states. His team will be energized but the public will see Clinton's 50% plus when in Florida next week. By Super Tuesday, South Carolina will be very old news.

Look Obama will have a sizable vote and delegate count by the convention but with or without Edwards in the race, I don't see how he can possibly win. The commentators on the blogs represent a very, very small fraction of the electorate. Blacks as a group is small. Obama does not do well with Hispanic voters, and Whites is a mixed bag. It is really sad to break out by race but that seems to be meaningful at the moment. By age, Obama clearly wins the younger voters, but they do not vote well and are undependable.

But seriously, however Obama proceeds, he needs to win traditional Democratic votes. BTW, after Super Tuesday, the campaign will still be undecided. At present, Clinton will likely come out the big winner going into Febrary. Rezko trial is in latter part of the month and Obama has not adequately explained this and reading this daily suggests there is much more to come out--even if only guilt by association it will be distracting and damaging.

I still see Clinton winning and Obama's role will depend on how well he plays and wins with traditional Democrats across the nation.

Congrats tonight on a great win that beat expectations

The torch is being passed to a new generation.

Caroline Kennedy will endorse Obama in an Op-Ed tomorrow morning, just in time to put the frosting on his huge, broad-based win tonight in S.C., and Obama's appearance on This Week With George Stephanopolous.

50% of White Voters under 30 went for OBama in South Carolina, today.

50%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Notice when Hillary wins, she wins by about 4%, when Obama wins, he wins by much bigger numbers.

Carl Bernstein is a freaking moron!

"The Hateful, I mean, Hopeful, Obama folks are going to be destroyed after Florida and Super Tuesday. I already bought my champagne. This is a Pyhrric victory -- whites and Hispanics will see the game the Obama campaign played in order to attempt one win since Iowa. Pathetic. Take your elitist, Republican-loving Rezko selves to the cleaners -- you're a filthy bunch."

You, Mr. Anonymous aka Mr. Cowardice, should speak for yourself. As an Hispanic I much prefer a candidate who is wholly inclusive and not exclusive like the real elitists, the Clintons. After what they've said and done in recent days, I'm voting for Obama. P.S.- save you tricks for kids.

"The Hateful, I mean, Hopeful, Obama folks are going to be destroyed after Florida and Super Tuesday. I already bought my champagne. This is a Pyhrric victory -- whites and Hispanics will see the game the Obama campaign played in order to attempt one win since Iowa. Pathetic. Take your elitist, Republican-loving Rezko selves to the cleaners -- you're a filthy bunch."

You, Mr. Anonymous aka Mr. Cowardice, should speak for yourself. As an Hispanic I much prefer a candidate who is wholly inclusive and not exclusive like the real elitists, the Clintons. After what they've said and done in recent days, I'm voting for Obama. P.S.- save you tricks for kids.

Mary wrote on January 26, 2008 8:46 PM:
CNN is infuriating me. They're going on and on about how Obama has to win the white vote on Super Tuesday, when he already won Iowa -- whitebread city -- and was closely competitive in NH. He already surpassed expectations in SC, too. They're doing the Clintons' racial labelling work for them.

>>> Are you freaking watching the same show as I? Can you identify for me anyone there remotely sympathesizing with the Clinton compaign? As Craig pointed out, those people's hatred of the clintons are almost pathological. What's wrong with this woman Gloria Borger? She is disgraceful!!!

NCSteve, Amy Holmes is cute, but she's evil! Stay away!

That Caroline Kennedy endorsement is a pretty nice one. I can't wait to read that particular op-Ed.

Anonymous, racist comments are boorish and in very poor taste.

Liam, personally, I find any organized group by race as offensive. If you have a group--say the Congressional Black Caucus--and cannot reverse the race, then it is offensive. Racism is wrong, wrong to play, wrong to choose by race. BTW, I think you overstate the Whites or Caucasions choosing by race. Some might, but that is true of all groups. But how about laying off the stereotypes. The Obama supporters on this blog are evidence of the colorblind support and decisions that a lot of people make.

When Caroline Kennedy writies that Obama could be "A President Like My Father" she is 100% correct!

this win of Obama is disgraceful or better to say, tainted. think about it, he won 80 of 53% participating blakc, which is already 40%. How can anyone else compete with this? It is clear from the beginning. Obama will win SC. Clintons for once were naive enough to think the black would remember what they had done for them in the 90's. No luck!

let's see if Obama maintains this kind of support pattern, how many more primaries he can win?

Caroline does not even know her father that much. How could she pass this judgement?

(So just to underline the obvious, before we go back to contemplating numbers that now show Obama *doubling* Clinton's vote in SC. Good grief!)

The Obama comments on Reagan that I quoted above are thoughtful and reflective. They're trying to figure out how Reagan won with 51% and then 59% of the popular vote in '80 and '84, while Clinton's shares in '92 and '96 were 43% and 49%. And while Reagan won the Senate in '80 and held it six years, Clinton lost the Senate AND House in '94, which Democrats had controlled since 1932. Clinton has a large personality, but he was a weak President.

So in the cold light of data, Reagan was unquestionably more politically effective and more politically transformational than Clinton. And I think anyone who lived through both Presidencies would have to agree, whatever you think of the changes. (Like Obama, I spent much of my 20s working to try to blunt the devastation that Reagan inflicted.)

Now you can disagree with Obama's analysis, but to pretend to be "offended" by it is bizarre. He's facing a cold truth, and Democrats who seriously want to win need to ask themselves why it is that Republicans have influenced the political agenda so effectively for 25 years. We can change this, but not by ignoring reality.

Liam, Oprah called on Blacks to vote for Obama BECAUSE he was Black. This is narrow-minded, racist, and offensive.

First, congrats to Obama. Big win in SC tonight, regardless of what happens on Super Tuesday.

Second, does Edwards call it quits now, after such a poor showing in his birth state? Any thoughts on who that would benefit most (I'm not sure I see either Obama or Clinton taking much more than about 1/2 his supporters).

Third, though I wasn't so pleased with the Clinton camp's attempts to drag Obama down in SC, if he is the eventual Democratic candidate, he will face MUCH worse from the Repubs, so he should probably thank Hillary for the training. (If she is the candidate, she's going to need pretty sharp knives.)

CambridgeM, I tend to agree with you that Edward's supporters would likely go 50/50 between Obama and Clinton. Unfortunately, I do not get any sense that he's likely to quit any time soon.

I do not see him as a spoiler since he doesn't have enough mainstream Democratic support. His only hope is that either Clinton or Obama trips up and leaves him as the alternative candidate. I definitely do not see Clinton dropping out in any way shape or form, nor Obama. But for Obama, the upcoming Rezko trial is a MAJOR wildcard for him. Finally, I think if Edwards stays in, he may beat Obama in some states. A brokered convention is in the future.

The 100K+ new voters in SC, much like NV, is VERY impressive.

Do they hire news and commentary folks for their lack of intelligence and common sense?! I'm up on MSNBC now, gave up on CNN for the moment, except for Olbermann. At least I haven't seen Chris Matthews on tonight. Anyone watching the Republican News Channel?

Fact is fact. Did not black power Obama's SC win, like the case with Jesse Jacksons'? No one was bothered by 80% support from the black? this is insane. People, get some perspective, would you?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/opinion/27kennedy.html

Matthew what precisely did Oprah say? We're learning not to trust your paraphrases.

Carl Bernstein is just be repudiated by his fellow pundits. How sweet!