WP, pg1: A MARGIN THAT WILL BE HARD TO MARGINALIZE

[DeepModem Mom]

A Margin That Will Be Hard To Marginalize
By Alec MacGillis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 27, 2008; Page A01

....There was an irony in this: By attracting African Americans with his message of unity, Obama was at risk of allowing the opposition to cast him in narrower terms than he would like.

The campaign of his chief opponent, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), was preparing to discount an Obama victory in South Carolina as the predictable result of black voters' support for a fellow African American. In Charleston last week, Bill Clinton said, "They are getting votes, to be sure, because of their race or gender, and that's why people tell me that Hillary doesn't have a chance of winning here." Yesterday, he noted that Jesse Jackson had twice won the state's Democratic primary.

And pre-election polls showing a drop in support for Obama among white voters in South Carolina, alongside a surge in black support, threatened to undercut one of his main themes: that he can transcend the nation's divisions.

With yesterday's resounding victory, Obama may have dodged that threat, emerging from a hard-fought primary with his message of conciliation and his strategy of cross-demographic appeal intact, even as he faces considerable challenges leading up to the crush of 22 states voting a week from Tuesday. He won with 55 percent of the vote, double Clinton's share, and was carried by overwhelming support from black voters, who made up more than half of the electorate and voted for Obama 4 to 1 over Clinton, according to exit polls.

He received proportionately far less support from white voters -- about a quarter voted for him, with the remainder splitting about evenly between Clinton and former senator John Edwards (N.C.). Yet Obama's support among whites was higher than had been predicted by several polls last week -- he won nearly as many white men as Clinton -- allowing his campaign to argue that his message of national conciliation had a broader reach than many expected in a state with a complex racial history....

***

Obama supporters in South Carolina are relieved that he was able to achieve a victory of such proportions that it will be hard for the opposition to play it down. Many supporters were dismayed that there was even a chance that a win could be discounted on the basis of his strong backing from black voters. They noted that Obama had to work hard to win those voters, many of whom were backing Clinton only a few months ago, and that the surge in turnout was not simply a matter of identity politics, but also the result of a strong grass-roots organization....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/26/AR2008012602665.html?nav=hcmodule

[David__77]

1. Clinton's comment is absurd.

"They are getting votes, to be sure, because of their race or gender, and that's why people tell me that Hillary doesn't have a chance of winning here."

Well, if that the case, Clinton would have won. There are more women voters in South Carolina than Black voters.

But he clearly has an agenda here, of discounting the votes of Black people.

[SlipperySlope]

2. Agenda

He does NOT have an agenda of discounting the votes of Black people.

He has an agenda of helping his wife win the presidency, no matter what it takes.

If certain black people try to get in his way, he will slap them down. But that doesn't mean his agenda is to slap them down, it's just that they failed to properly toe the line and therefore had it coming.

[John Q. Citizen]

5. I like your analysis. It sounds about right.

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. A subtle, but distinct, difference.

Pragmatism is the Clintons' overriding principle. But he misjudged it. As good as he is, I think he has been believeing his own press about how good he is.

[sandnsea]

3. It was 61% women

How come nobody is asking why they didn't all vote for Hillary. Somebody really needs to take this on, straight up. This happens all over the country with minorities. It's an attitude that implies only white votes are real votes. I'm so sick of it.

[David__77]

9. Someone in another thread said you need most white votes to win.

That's untrue, and no Democratic presidential candidate has won the white vote since 1964.

[UrbScotty]

4. He did just as well among women as men

54%, according to CNN's exit poll:

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/epolls/index.html#SCDEM

[Tatiana]

10. It's strategy on Bill's part. We'll see if it works come Super Tuesday. n/t

[usregimechange]

6. Kick!

[angie_love]

7. yeah

Gosh that is an excellent article and I agree with it completely. It was absurd to try to make a win look like a loss. The media was prepared to turn it into a loss if the margin was 10-12 pts, but with a 28 pt victory, thats hard to ignore.