Obama KO's Clinton in South Carolina
It was a given Barack Obama would win the South Carolina Democratic primary Saturday, the only question was by how much.
The conventional wisdom was that if Hillary Clinton made it close, slicing her loss to single digits, it would have been hyped as a moral victory for Team Clinton after a nasty week of back and forth shots were fired between the New York and Illinois senators in which race played a major role.
Blacks accounted for as much as 53 percent of South Carolina voters; the latest numbers available last night were reporting 80 percent supported Obama, with 18 percent casting their ballot for Clinton, while John Edwards, now teetering on the edge of a cliff, received a meager 2 percent.
Unofficial results, reported Obama winning 55 percent of the Palmetto state, compared with 27 percent for Clinton, while Edwards came in a distant third, with 18 percent of the vote. The Illinois senator didn’t win by split decision, make no mistake about it: this was a convincing KO from the start; Clinton fell hard to the canvas early in the evening, so much so that she couldn’t even deliver her concession speech from S.C; she fled the state early and headed for Tennessee, where she finally congratulated Obama, her voice sounding horse, almost weather beaten, during a town hall meeting.
As humiliating as this loss was; it would be foolish to underestimate the New York senator; she is the consummate prize fighter, just when you think she’s down for the count, somehow she manages to climb back on her feet, albeit a bit woozy, and come back swinging, even if it means being forced to deliver a few quick jabs below the belt. She’s done it time and again, which makes her such an intriguing political figure.
Clinton is undoubtedly being advised to put S.C. behind her and keep her eye on the prize. As the Democrats head into Super Tuesday nine days from now, where 1,025 delegates will be at stake in New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado, New Jersey, and New York alone, all states with large Hispanic populations, representing a huge voting bloc that is leaning heavily toward Clinton. In December, a poll released by the Pew Research Center showed Clinton the preferred candidate among Latino registered voters by 59 percent compared to 15 percent for Obama. South Carolina made up only 1 percent of the Hispanic vote
And a recent Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg shows Clinton the preferred candidate by 42 percent of Democratic voters; compared with 33 percent for Obama, though the Illinois senator has increased his standing from a month ago, when he was preferred by only 21 percent of Democrats
Clinton additionally continues to draw heavy support among women. A recent poll released by the Public Policy Institute of California reports the New York senator holds a commanding 15 point lead over her chief rival; with women preferring Clinton over Obama by a two-to-one margin.
Still, there was a great deal of blood spilt in S.C this past week, which might have a damaging effect during the rest of this bruising campaign. A big question Team Clinton will have to confront immediately is if Bill Clinton is becoming more of a drag on Hillary’s campaign than a boon. The former president was at the center of the storm all week, taking shots at Obama with abandon; castigating the press for making race an issue; some within his own party questioned his undignified spiteful attacks directed against Obama. The opinion pages, meanwhile, have been flooded with articles wondering if Bill Clinton is running for a third term. Whether he’s just a ``passionate spouse’’ as Hillary’s described his aggressive style; or has ``gone off his medication’’ as New York Times columnist Bob Herbert wondered, it’s all taken away from Hillary’s message; and once again placed her in a subordinate role.
But Bill was only half the problem over the past week. Hillary didn’t do herself any favors by exchanging blows with Obama in a seven minute war of words during a CNN debate in Myrtle Beach S.C. It was watched by an estimated 4.9 million viewers, the most in cable news history. While both candidates delivered sharp blows with exaggerated accusations (Slum landlord vs. sitting on the board of Wal-Mart), it was Clinton, more than Obama, who came off looking like a school yard bully. Even during the second half of the evening, when the dialogue turned more civil, Obama was able to demonstrate a more relaxed posture, joking with Edwards about his white male status, running against the first woman and the first legitimate African American to run for president. Hillary, by comparison, came off stiff, unable to shift gears and show a softer side, which may very well have turned off S.C. voters.
Make no mistake about it; S.C. was a monumental win for Obama. Remember only a few months ago, Clinton was considered to have a commanding lead in the polls, even in S.C., and her nomination a virtual certainty. Now that the pendulum has swung back to Obama’s corner, his first order of business will be to figure out how to pick up support among two major demographic groups in which he’s the weakest: women and Hispanics. One positive sign might have been Carolyn Kennedy in an op-ed article published Sunday in the New York Times, throwing her support behind the Illinois senator.
That’s a start. But Obama should be reminded about a Robert Frost poem frequently quoted by Carolyn’s father, John F. Kennedy: ``The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep.''
-Bill Lucey
billlucey@bellsouth.net
The conventional wisdom was that if Hillary Clinton made it close, slicing her loss to single digits, it would have been hyped as a moral victory for Team Clinton after a nasty week of back and forth shots were fired between the New York and Illinois senators in which race played a major role.
Blacks accounted for as much as 53 percent of South Carolina voters; the latest numbers available last night were reporting 80 percent supported Obama, with 18 percent casting their ballot for Clinton, while John Edwards, now teetering on the edge of a cliff, received a meager 2 percent.
Unofficial results, reported Obama winning 55 percent of the Palmetto state, compared with 27 percent for Clinton, while Edwards came in a distant third, with 18 percent of the vote. The Illinois senator didn’t win by split decision, make no mistake about it: this was a convincing KO from the start; Clinton fell hard to the canvas early in the evening, so much so that she couldn’t even deliver her concession speech from S.C; she fled the state early and headed for Tennessee, where she finally congratulated Obama, her voice sounding horse, almost weather beaten, during a town hall meeting.
As humiliating as this loss was; it would be foolish to underestimate the New York senator; she is the consummate prize fighter, just when you think she’s down for the count, somehow she manages to climb back on her feet, albeit a bit woozy, and come back swinging, even if it means being forced to deliver a few quick jabs below the belt. She’s done it time and again, which makes her such an intriguing political figure.
Clinton is undoubtedly being advised to put S.C. behind her and keep her eye on the prize. As the Democrats head into Super Tuesday nine days from now, where 1,025 delegates will be at stake in New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado, New Jersey, and New York alone, all states with large Hispanic populations, representing a huge voting bloc that is leaning heavily toward Clinton. In December, a poll released by the Pew Research Center showed Clinton the preferred candidate among Latino registered voters by 59 percent compared to 15 percent for Obama. South Carolina made up only 1 percent of the Hispanic vote
And a recent Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg shows Clinton the preferred candidate by 42 percent of Democratic voters; compared with 33 percent for Obama, though the Illinois senator has increased his standing from a month ago, when he was preferred by only 21 percent of Democrats
Clinton additionally continues to draw heavy support among women. A recent poll released by the Public Policy Institute of California reports the New York senator holds a commanding 15 point lead over her chief rival; with women preferring Clinton over Obama by a two-to-one margin.
Still, there was a great deal of blood spilt in S.C this past week, which might have a damaging effect during the rest of this bruising campaign. A big question Team Clinton will have to confront immediately is if Bill Clinton is becoming more of a drag on Hillary’s campaign than a boon. The former president was at the center of the storm all week, taking shots at Obama with abandon; castigating the press for making race an issue; some within his own party questioned his undignified spiteful attacks directed against Obama. The opinion pages, meanwhile, have been flooded with articles wondering if Bill Clinton is running for a third term. Whether he’s just a ``passionate spouse’’ as Hillary’s described his aggressive style; or has ``gone off his medication’’ as New York Times columnist Bob Herbert wondered, it’s all taken away from Hillary’s message; and once again placed her in a subordinate role.
But Bill was only half the problem over the past week. Hillary didn’t do herself any favors by exchanging blows with Obama in a seven minute war of words during a CNN debate in Myrtle Beach S.C. It was watched by an estimated 4.9 million viewers, the most in cable news history. While both candidates delivered sharp blows with exaggerated accusations (Slum landlord vs. sitting on the board of Wal-Mart), it was Clinton, more than Obama, who came off looking like a school yard bully. Even during the second half of the evening, when the dialogue turned more civil, Obama was able to demonstrate a more relaxed posture, joking with Edwards about his white male status, running against the first woman and the first legitimate African American to run for president. Hillary, by comparison, came off stiff, unable to shift gears and show a softer side, which may very well have turned off S.C. voters.
Make no mistake about it; S.C. was a monumental win for Obama. Remember only a few months ago, Clinton was considered to have a commanding lead in the polls, even in S.C., and her nomination a virtual certainty. Now that the pendulum has swung back to Obama’s corner, his first order of business will be to figure out how to pick up support among two major demographic groups in which he’s the weakest: women and Hispanics. One positive sign might have been Carolyn Kennedy in an op-ed article published Sunday in the New York Times, throwing her support behind the Illinois senator.
That’s a start. But Obama should be reminded about a Robert Frost poem frequently quoted by Carolyn’s father, John F. Kennedy: ``The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep.''
-Bill Lucey
billlucey@bellsouth.net
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