This will likely be my last posting on this subject, so some final thoughts:
1. I was pretty sure Obama would win, but I did not see 55-27-19 or whatever the exact final margin ends up being coming. I posted 2.5 hours ago to look for roughly a 10 point win, though 15 I thought more likely than 5. But a flat majority, a doubling of 2nd place, I didn’t see coming. Huge, though not w/o potential pitfall as I said in III.
2. Edwards can fulfill his vow to stay in this race through Super Tuesday if he wants, but its totally hopeless, as I first stated out of New Hampshire. He got roughly 19% in a state he was always banking on. Obama won in his backyard (Iowa), Clinton won in her adopted backyard (New Hampshire) and now Edwards got creamed in his backyard.
3. I’m sure the Hillary camp will spin this that they got drubbed because Obama is the black candidate and the Democratic part of South Carolina is heavy black. The risk with that is in pissing off blacks to the point they don’t support her in the general election to the extent they “should” if she is the nominee. But I’m sure her camp is a bit worried that the size of this defeat could give Obama some momentum heading to Super Tuesday.
4. More people voted in the Democratic primary than last week’s Republican primary. In South Carolina, which is overall heavily Republican and wherein the Republican primary was very closely contested. A lot could change between now and November, but this trend has been in all early states where both parties were actively contesting the race, and it bodes well for the Democrats, I think, that more people are energized to go select a candidate in their race.
Stay tuned!
