[Marxism] Obama-mania has arrived

[Anthony Boynton]

Obama wins in nearly all demographics
By Robert Behre, The Charleston Post and Courier,
Sunday, January 27, 2008

COLUMBIA — Democratic presidential hopeful Barack
Obama posted such an impressive win in Saturday's
primary that his victory party began even before his
supporters were allowed into the Columbia Metropolitan
Convention Center.

A crowd the length of a football field broke into
chants of "O-BA-MA! O-BA-MA! O-BA-MA!" right at 7
p.m., when the polls closed and news organizations
began to call the election for the Illinois senator.

The large margin of his win, with twice as many votes
as runner-up Hillary Clinton, proved his appeal to
this diverse state, the first in the South to vote
this year.

Obama's rout was across the board. Not only did he win
44 of the state's 46 counties, but he captured
virtually every demographic, including women, men and
young, middle-aged and elderly voters, all this
according to CNN exit poll data.

It also proved that pollsters can be right and that he
would head toward Super Tuesday on Feb. 5 with a big
boost at his back.

The state's Democratic voters turned out in record
numbers to give Obama a decisive win, with 55 percent
of the vote compared to 27 percent of the vote for the
New York senator, with 99 percent of the votes
tallied.

The result was a blow for Clinton, who had a
commanding lead in the polls a year ago and whose
husband, President Bill Clinton, pulled out the stops
in recent days, crisscrossing the state to promote his
wife and often drawing flak for a war of words that
simmered between the Clinton and Obama camps.

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who won the
South Carolina primary in 2004, fell out of favor in
his native state this time around, but his

showing, with 18 percent of the vote, was better than
many expected earlier this week.

This was a campaign of pivotal moments, including
Obama's appearance in December with media megastar
Oprah Winfrey. The pair drew almost 30,000 people to
Williams Brice Stadium in Columbia, a record crowd for
recent political events in the state and a sure sign
of how his campaign's grassroots work was paying off.

Another pivotal moment came Monday, when Obama and
Clinton testily faced off in a final televised debate
before the state went to the polls. Edwards, who asked
aloud how their spat would help solve the country's
health care and education problems, was seen by many
as the winner and saw his poll numbers rise all week.

Obama's success came partly because his historic
stature as the first black frontrunner for the U.S.
presidency resonated with the state's black residents,
who were expected to make up half of Saturday's
Democratic electorate.

But it also came because he eschewed the state's
traditional black political establishment — an
establishment that leaned heavily toward Clinton — and
built his own grassroots machine.

"Whatever the result turns out to be, it's good for
the Democratic party. It means a lot of people are
taking a look at our candidates," Carol Fowler, state
Democratic Party chairwoman, said.

Ultimately, the horse race for second place involved
more drama than the question of who would win.

"I think irrespective of how this campaign comes out,
I don't think this country will ever be the same,"
U.S. House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C.,
predicted during a recent visit to Charleston.

The skies remained clear and cool as more than 300,000
Democratic voters went to the polls, breaking the
party's turnout mark set four years ago.

The weather wasn't the only improvement from last
week's Republican primary: There were fewer reported
voting machine problems.

The NAACP said it planned to increase scrutiny of the
primary voting to try to avoid problems faced last
week, particularly when several Horry County precincts
had to use paper ballots when poll workers couldn't
switch on their machines in the morning.

Obama was expected to connect well with black voters.
Even President Clinton acknowledged as much during a
Charleston campaign stop last week.

"People are proud when someone they identify with
emerges for the first time," he said, saying some
Democrats like him have waited their lives for such a
diverse field.

"Anybody can play in our party, and I think it's
great, great, great."

Obama is not the first black to win a presidential
contest here.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson won the state's presidential
caucuses in 1984 and 1988, but his presidential bid
was seen as largely symbolic. Obama's South Carolina
victory — on top of his success in Iowa — shows he has
a real shot at winning this year.

Blease Graham, a political science professor at the
University of South Carolina, said an Obama win "is
also a wake-up call for the established Democratic
party that they can't take things for granted — that
their favorite candidate, Senator Clinton, is
vulnerable to some meaningful challenge, not just a
fringe challenge."

Late Saturday, backers of Clinton, Edwards and Obama
commandeered different corners around the Statehouse
here and waved their blue signs at passing motorists.

A few hours before the polls closed, State Democratic
Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler said everything seemed
to be going smoothly.

"I've heard of no problems whatsoever," she said.
"Turnout is up well over 2004," when about 290,000
Democrats voted. "Some precincts in some counties are
up very significantly."

Fowler said she heard of one precinct in Lancaster
County where 80 people voted in the 2004 Democratic
primary but more than 200 had voted by Saturday
afternoon.

"It's a precinct where a mill closed, so they've got
reason to want change," she said.

Unlike the Republicans, whose South Carolina winner
has gone on to capture the nomination every year since
1980, a Democratic win here doesn't provide any
historical cachet, just some momentum and bragging
rights.

The candidates all covet that as the race heads into
Super-Duper Tuesday on Feb. 5, when 22 states are
expected to vote, many with winner-take-all contests.

Reach Robert Behre at 937-5771 or at
rbehre at postandcourier.com.



	



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