Hillary burns bright in S Carolina
BAGGING PRIMARY Democratic presidential frontrunner has won three of party’s four nominating contests so far
WASHINGTON: Hillary Clinton reclaimed her standing as the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination with a massive victory over Bernie Sanders in South Carolina on Saturday, giving her momentum heading into the Super Tuesday contests in multiple states.
Most of the 12 states holding their nominating contests on Super Tuesday, March 1, are in the south such as South Carolina, with similar demographics, large number of African-American voters.
Though Clinton had l ed the polls in the state, and was widely expected to win, experts and pundits had come to see the primary as a test of her support among African-Americans.
When she ran last in 2008, they had aligned solidly with Barack Obama, giving him a momentum that carried him all the way to the nomination, beating Clinton, the once inevitable candidate.
Clinton beat Bernie Sanders, her only rival for the Democratic nomination, 84% to 15% among African-Americans on Saturday, according to exit polls, flipping her 2008 numbers.
Overall, Clinton beat Sanders 73.5% to Sanders’s 25.9%, inflicting a crushing defeat that some said sets her up to sweep Super Tuesday and even clears her path to the nomination.
Referring to her 2008 win in New Hampshire, after a defeat in Iowa, The New Yorker said, “That win (New Hampshire) put her back in the Presidential race; this one appeared to put her back on course to win the Democratic nomination.”
The New York Times said Clinton’s victory margin in South Carolina, that was even better than’s Obamas’ 26-point lead there 2008, positions her for “a sweep of the South in a few days on Super Tuesday”.
Clinton has now won three of Democratic party’s four nominating contests so far — Iowa and Nevada caucuses and now South Carolina. Sanders took the fourth, New Hampshire.
“Today, you sent a message: in America, when we stand together, there is no barrier too big to break,” Clinton said in her victory speech. “Tomorrow, this campaign goes national!”
Sanders, who knew South Carolina would be tough, had moved on already, campaigning Super Tuesday states. “Let me be clear on one thing tonight. This campaign is just beginning. We won a decisive victory in New Hampshire. She won a decisive victory in South Carolina. Now it’s on to Super Tuesday,” Sanders said in a statement.