COLUMBIA, South Carolina (AFP) — Senator Barack Obama won an invigorating victory over White House foe Hillary Clinton in South Carolina on Saturday, riding a massive wave of support from African-Americans in his bid to become the first black US president.

US television projected Obama as the winner in the key contest for the Democratic Party nomination, with Clinton in second place trailed by former senator John Edwards in third.

Obama, who badly needed a win to keep his hopes alive, was projected to win with 81 percent of the black vote, while Clinton, who would be the first woman US president, took 17 percent of that segment according to a CNN exit poll.

The South Carolina vote marked a second key victory for Obama and evened the score with Clinton, who has also won two key state primaries ahead of a blitz of nearly two dozen nationwide contests on February 5.

CNN said early indications were that the charismatic Illinois senator had won 53 percent of the state vote, after the earlier dropping contests in New Hampshire and Nevada following his shock triumph in Iowa.

Exit polls showed the vote was divided along racial and gender lines, in a state where African-Americans make up half the Democratic electorate.

AFP
Seems that Silky(^TM) came in 3^rd in his birth state. Of course he will stay in the race because the media and pundits won't tell him he has to drop out (even though he has as much a shot as I do). heh

Love the way it's reported. I wonder if the media (and people) realize that as long as we report the black and white vote, we will continue to think of black and white people as different groups.