2008 Woodie Awards
Super Saturday: Obama wins by a landslide
By: Chris Bullard and John Harris
Issue date: 1/30/08 Section: News
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Staff Writers
The nation's eye was on South Carolina Saturday, Jan. 26, for the Democratic primary. Illinois Sen. Barack Obama defeated New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.
"I expected that Obama would win, but I didn't know it would be this big." said Matthew Blanton, sophomore intercultural studies.
Candidates traveled from the low country to the upstate and between sharing their ideas with South Carolina voters.
The three leading candidates - Clinton, Obama and Edwards - began the week at the Martin Luther King Jr. Rally in Columbia, and at a heated debate in Myrtle Beach on Jan. 21.
Edwards, who was third in the primary, focused on the upstate, trying to appeal to locals of the state he calls home. Edwards won the SC Democratic primary over John Kerry back in the 2004 presidential race.
Clinton, who placed second, spoke at a few engagements, including those at Furman University and Benedict College but did not stay long. She left for Tennessee on Saturday before the winner of South Carolina was declared.
Obama spent the week traveling South Carolina's upstate, midlands and coast. His win in South Carolina was necessary after placing second to Clinton in New Hampshire and Nevada.
According to a CNN poll, Obama had a small lead of 44 percent to Clinton's 38 percent early in the week prior to the primary.
"The key factor for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's win was the Iowa Caucus on Jan. 3. There he became the frontrunner and a formidable presidential candidate," said Dr. Ecarma, associate professor of mass communication.
Polling places opened at 7 a.m. on Saturday. A record number of 520,000 voters visited the polls before the 7 p.m. closing, almost doubling the 280,000 voters in the 2004 Democratic primary. For the GOP primary a week earlier, 446,000 voters went to the polls.
"Tonight, the cynics who believed that what began in the snows of Iowa was just an illusion were told a different story by the good people of South Carolina," Obama said as he celebrated his win at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.
According to the CNN exit poll, 54 percent of Saturday's voters said they attend church on a weekly basis. Out of that percentage, 58 percent voted for Obama.
Another poll reported that 14 percent of voters were between the ages of 18-29. And 67 percent of those voted for Obama.
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