Obama comfortably defeats Clinton in South Carolina primary
Sunday, 27 Jan 2008 20:07
Barack Obama wins Democratic party's South Carolina primary
Barack Obama has won the Democratic party's South Carolina presidential primary after earning twice the vote of Hillary Clinton.
The Illinois senator, who won the opening White House contest in Iowa, gained 55 per cent of voter support compared to Ms Clinton's 27 per cent.
Outsider John Edwards was restricted to 18 per cent in the hometown state he won in the corresponding 2004 election.
In the last two votes, held in New Hampshire and Nevada, to determine who the Democrats will put forward as their candidate to replace George Bush as United States president, New York senator Ms Clinton had emerged victorious.
But the South Carolina primary win gives Mr Obama's campaign momentum ahead of the February 5th 'super Tuesday' vote, when people in 22 states get to cast their vote.
Speaking in the state capital Columbia, Mr Obama said: "Tonight, the cynics who believed that what began in the snows of Iowa was just an illusion were told a different story by the good people of South Carolina.
"In nine short days, 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."
Exit polls showed Mr Obama had earned four-fifths of black residents' votes, with about half of the electorate being African-American.
But Mr Obama added: "It is not about black versus white. This election is about the past versus the future."
Ms Clinton, who had flown out to Nashville, Tennessee, ahead of the South Carolina results being added, was already looking to super Tuesday.
"Now the eyes of the country turn to Tennessee and the other states that will be voting on February 5th," she said.
"Millions and millions of Americans will have the chance to have their voices heard and their votes counted."