Sen. Obama crushed the competition in South Carolina, taking 55% of the vote. This compares to 27% for Hillary Clinton and 18% for the Edwards. Also notable is the fact that more Democrats showed up to vote in their South Carolina primary than Republicans showed up for their primary. That’s probably a sign of bad mojo for the GOP this November — if more Democrats are showing up in South Carolina, a staunchly Republican state, things could get really ugly in states that are traditionally more competitive as between the parties.
Doug,
On the bright side for South Carolina Republicans, the Democratic primary this year was only the second-most successful primary election in the state’s history, in terms of turnout.
The record is still held by the Republican primary in 2000, which the GOP can be proud of as their party’s faithful turned out in droves to express their stern disapproval of John McCain fathering an illegitimate black baby.
I doubt that anyone from either party this year spent eighteen million dollars in two weeks in South Carolina like Bush did in 2000. In politics, as in all things, you tend to get what you pay for.
Obama carried every county save two, and in many he got two votes out of every three cast (and in a number he got three out of every four). That’s the sort of result (and origin of voters, when you look at exit polls) that anybody who has ever looked at election returns from Circle Township in the high days of the Carson machine would find familiar.
Thing is, where do lots of those people go, when the establishment rescues its candidate (as tends to happen in Democratic primaries) and Hillary prevails?