Clinton cruises past Sanders in S. Carolina primary
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HILLARY Clinton scored a resounding victory against Bernie Sanders in Saturday’s Democratic primary in South Carolina, seizing momentum ahead of the most important day of the nomination race: tomorrow’s “Super Tuesday” showdown.
A month into the White House primaries, the former secretary of state earned her first decisive win of the campaign, after a nail-biter victory in Iowa, a thumping loss to Sanders in New Hampshire, and then a five-point win in Nevada.
South Carolina was the first southern state to vote for a 2016 Democratic nominee, before the race broadens to 11 contests across the country.
“Tomorrow this campaign goes national,” Clinton said to a loud roar as she thanked supporters in Columbia, South Carolina, where she emerged with a clearer path to the nomination.
“We are going to compete for every vote in every state. We are not taking anything, and we are not taking anyone, for granted.”
Television networks called the race for Clinton immediately after polls closed in the Palmetto State, where the majority of Democratic voters are African-American, a voting bloc that she and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, have successfully courted for decades.
Clinton also looked beyond her battle with Sanders, tweaking the man many now see as the likely Republican nominee: Donald Trump, whose campaign slogan is “Make America Great Again.”
“Despite what you hear, we don’t need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great,” she said, reading from a teleprompter.
“But we do need to make America whole again,” she said, laying out an argument against the divisive rhetoric favored by Trump, who has antagonized immigrants, Muslims and campaign rivals.
“I know it sometimes seems a little odd for someone running for president these days and in this time to say we need more love and kindness in America,” she said.
“But I am telling you from the bottom of my heart, we do.”
With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton stood at 73.5 percent compared to 26 percent for Sanders.
The comprehensive victory marks a moment of redemption for Clinton who in 2008 lost badly in the state to Barack Obama — his win here serving as a turning point for his ultimately victorious campaign.
Exit polls in South Carolina showed African-Americans — who represented 61 percent of all Democratic voters in the primary — backed Clinton by a stunning 86 percent, more than had supported Obama eight years prior.
Clinton assiduously courted black voters, in part by praising Obama and promising to build on his legacy. She also campaigned alongside black surrogates and visited African-American churches and historically black colleges.
Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist seeking to launch a “political revolution” in America, was already looking past South Carolina.
On Saturday he headed to Texas to address a crowd of 10,000, and then to Minnesota, two states in play tomorrow when the senator needs to keep his head above water if he wants to challenge Clinton deeper into the nomination race.
He insisted he was in it for the long haul.
“Let me be clear on one thing tonight. This campaign is just beginning,” he said in a statement after results came in.
Among Democrats, Clinton leads in the national delegate count at this early stage, having now won three of the first four nomination contests.
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