( - promoted by Chris Bowers)
Results can be found at the South Carolina Democratic Party website, and at CNN.
99% Reporting (projected pledged delegates in parenthesis)
Obama: 55%, 295,091, (25)
Clinton 27%, 141,128, (12)
Edwrds: 18%, 93,552, (8)
Update 13: Pledged delegate totals are now final. This brings the overall pledged delegate totals to Obama 63, Clinton 48, Edwards 26. That is only about 9% of the pledged delegates that will be given out on Super Tuesday.
Update 12: I'm looking at Google News headlines on the primary to try and see what sort of narrative comes out of South Carolina. There appear to be three types of headlines right now. First, the most common is the bland, "Obama wins South Carolina," that won't help him much. Second, there is the "Obama wins racially charged primary," that probably won't help him at all (and may hurt him). Third, there is the "Obama wins huge" headline, which he really needs and will help him. Since he needs a bounce, he also needs a lot of "Obama wins big" type headlines.
Update 11: Obama remains undefeated on delegate counts from states so far. He will also pass Huckabee and McCain combined in votes. Clinton will pass Huckabee, and may yet pass McCain. Edwards has already moved well past Romney and Thompson.
Update 10: In 2004, about 295,000 Democrats voted in the South Carolina primary. This year, about 445,000 Republicans in South Carolina primary. Both of those numbers are going down--a testament to the hufe Democratic excitement this year. Clinton might still beat McCain's vote totals!
Update 9: ARG further solidifies its position as the worst polling firm in the nation. After projecting Clinton to win Iowa by 9, McCain to edge out Romney in Michigan, and Huckabee to take South Carolina by 7%, this morning they only projected Obama to win South Carolina by 3%. All other polls called South Carolina for Obama by between 7% and 20%.
Update 8: While Obama and Edwards are in SC tonight with supporters, Clinton is travelling to Tennessee tonight, to give the perception that she is focusing on February 5th instead of South Carolina. Truth be told, both she and Bill should have abandoned South Carolina altogether. She would have lost big anyway, but at least then she would not have appeared to care.
Update 7: Can Obama get more South Carolina votes than McCain and Huckabee combined? Right now, he is on pace for about 275,000 votes, while the two Republican frontrunners in South Carolina combined for about 280,000 votes.
Update 6: Among white voters, Obama won those under 30, Edwards won those from 30-59, and Clinton won those aged 60 and up. That is a repetition of the age gap we have seen elsewhere, such as in Iowa..
Update 5: It appears that Democratic turnout for the South Carolina primary will be higher than Republican turnout was last week. That is pretty impressive, and a good sign for Democrats.
Update 4: All news outlets are now projecting that Clinton will take second place over Edwards. However, the overwhelming size of the victory, combined with Edwards winning the white vote, will make this a problematic post-election narrative for Clinton. It would appear that the Clintons have lost African-Americans in this primary season, big-time.
Update 3: According to the exit poll, Obama won 81% of the African-American vote, and Edwards narrowly won the white vote over Clinton, 39%-36%. That translates into a huge margin, something like Obama 51%, Clinton 27%, Edwards 21%.. Goodness gracious!
Update 2: All news outlets have called South Carolina for Obama. That was fast. Could be the blowout he needs.
Update: In some good news for Clinton, the exit poll also indicates that 61% of the electorate is female, and 67% of it is 45 or older.
Early word from the exit poll is that "interviews with voters as they left their polling places indicated about half the electorate was black." The pre-primary polls that showed Obama with a large advantage included an average sample of 49% African-Americans. So, it looks like Obama will win. |
