Obama wins South Carolina

News9.com and the Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Barack Obama's win in South Carolina over the weekend means he and chief rival Hillary Clinton have now split the first four major contests. It could be up to next week's collection of 22 "Super Tuesday" contests to sort out the Democratic presidential race.

Obama rolled up 55 percent of the vote yesterday in a three-way race. Clinton got 27 percent. John Edwards got 18.

There were racial undertones to the South Carolina contest, some say. At last night's victory rally, Obama supporters chanted "race doesn't matter," but exit polls conducted by the Associated Press suggested black voters predominantly voted for Obama.

Bill Clinton mentioned the race issue a number of times in the hotly-contested campaign, even suggesting that a lack of black support might cost his wife a win.

Clinton campaign strategists deny there was any intentional effort to stir up a debate over race. But the strategists also said they think the fallout has had the effect of branding Obama "the black candidate," a tag that could hurt him outside the South.