Obama Is Big Winner in S.C. Primary

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Obama Delivers Victory Speech in South Carolina

Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama addressed supporters in Columbia, S.C. after winning the state's Democratic primary.

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Edwards, who won South Carolina four years ago, appeared to capitalize on the bickering between Clinton and Obama, winning half of the white voters who made up their minds in the final three days.

Edwards hopes to profit from the Clinton-Obama wrangle. But after three consecutive third-place finishes, he now must decide whether continuing his candidacy will result in him becoming a potential power broker or a spoiler.

Speaking to supporters, Edwards vowed to carry his campaign forward to "give voice to millions of Americans who have absolutely no voice in this democracy."

Obama's victory was built on a foundation of support from African Americans. Black voters made up slightly more than half of the Democratic electorate on Saturday, and Obama won about four in five of their votes.

Months earlier, he and Clinton were in a pitched battle for the support of black voters, with Clinton hoping to draw on her and her husband's deep roots in the African American community. But Obama quickly consolidated their support, and his superior organization provided an extra boost that paid off on voting day.

Clinton made a special effort to attract support from African American women, but they were as strong in their support for Obama as were black men. Obama defeated Clinton among black women 4 to 1.

The South Carolina campaign turned into the nastiest stage of the Democratic battle so far. Clinton and Obama traded insults during a rancorous debate in Myrtle Beach on Monday night, and the two campaigns clashed repeatedly over whether the Clintons -- and, in particular, the former president -- were deliberately distorting some of Obama's statements for political advantage.

The attacks raged through much of the week, until Clinton and Obama backed away from the brink on Thursday, but by then the damage was done. The results of the primary were "a sound rejection of the politics of attack and division by the voters of South Carolina," David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, said shortly after the polls closed.

Clinton advisers held firm in their argument that it was the Obama campaign that had sought to undermine the former president, and they predicted that the battle in South Carolina will damage Obama going forward.

By 7:37 p.m., barely half an hour after the polls closed, Clinton was in the air headed toward Nashville, her campaign's eagerness to leave South Carolina barely disguised. Although her strategists took care not to disparage the voters of South Carolina -- as they had caucusgoers after losing Iowa weeks earlier -- the private assessment from some supporters was that Obama had won only because of large minority turnout.

Obama's team quickly rebutted that argument, noting that he had solid support in the white community, as well, and the dispute seemed certain to roil the campaign further.