Obama takes heavy win in South Carolina

Sen. Barack Obama claimed a substantial triumph in South Carolina on Saturday, telling supporters "we are thirsty for difference. " The Illinois senator earned much than twice the voting that rival Sen. Hillary Clinton did, 55 percentage to 27 percentage, informal returns showed. Former Sen. John Edwards was expected to go in third in the country's Democratic primary, according to CNN projections. "Tonight, the cynics who believed that what began in the snows of Iowa was just a delusion were told a distinct tale by the better folk of South Carolina," Obama said to supporters Saturday. A gain in South Carolina was considered critical for Obama, who won Iowa but finished second to Clinton in New Hampshire and Nevada.

"I did not move around this country over the last year and view a light-colored South Carolina or a dark South Carolina. I saw South Carolina," he said. "The selection in this election is not between regions or religions or genders," Obama said. "It's not about wealthy versus impoverished; inexperienced versus older; and it is not about dark versus light-colored. "It's about the past versus the future. " With 99 percentage of precincts reporting, Obama had 55 percentage of the voting. Clinton was second with 27 percentage, followed by Edwards, with 18 percentage. Obama's triumph capped a hot competition in South Carolina, the best Democratic primary in the South and the best with a mostly African-American electorate.

Obama, who is hoping to get the the country's best African-American president, did easily with dark voters, who made upward about half of Saturday's electorate, according to departure polls. Black voters supported the Illinois senator by an edge of much than 4-to-1 over his nearest rival, departure polls suggest. Among light-colored voters, Obama took around a fourth of the voting, with Clinton and Edwards approximately splitting the rest, according to departure polls. Clinton congratulated Obama and said she was excited to go ahead to the Super Tuesday contests on February 5. "Millions and millions of Americans are going to get the opportunity to get their voices heard and their votes counted," she told supporters at Tennessee State University.

Edwards too looked forward to the next contests. "Now the three of us go on to February 5, where millions of Americans will put their voting and assistance influence the future of this company and assistance influence the future of America," he said. "Our effort from the very start has been about one key matter, and that is to offer sound to the millions of Americans who have utterly no sound in this democracy. " Clinton play Obama simply among older voters, according to departure polls. Among voters 65 and old, Clinton play Obama 40 to 32 percentage. But Obama conveniently defeated Clinton in every new bracket, and overall garnered 58 percentage of the voting among 18 to 64-year-olds while 23 percentage of those voters picked Clinton. And half of those polled said both candidates shared blame for the bitterness between the two camps. Of those who said one of the contenders was much to fault than the new, 21 percentage blamed Clinton, and 6 percentage said Obama.