Something Interesting From the So. Carolina Primary
Jan 27th 2008ZacharyBarack Obama & Bill Clinton & Election 2008 & Hillary Clinton & National Politics & News
I wasn’t really surprised by Barack Obama’s win in the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary, but what did surprise me was his margin of victory, coupled with his better than expected showing among white voters. In the days leading up to the primary, some polls showed Obama likely to get only 10% of the white vote in South Carolina, but he ended up garnering roughly 25% of the white vote, not to mention roughly 80% of the African American vote.
However, what was most interesting to me was a story I’ve seen in a few different news sources, including CNN’s Political Ticker:
Bill Clinton’s aggressive campaigning in South Carolina in the days leading up to the state’s primary may have had a net negative effect among South Carolina’s Democratic primary voters….
Roughly 6 in 10 South Carolina Democratic primary voters said Bill Clinton’s campaigning was important in how they ultimately decided to vote, and of those voters, 48 percent went for Barack Obama while only 37 percent went for Hillary Clinton.
Now I’ve always counted myself as someone who admired Bill Clinton, so I’ve actually been sorely disappointed at how negative he’s gotten out on the campaign trail. I know he’s just trying to do what he can to help Hillary out, but I feel his acting as Hillary’s “attack dog” does nothing but taint his legacy, especially considering the racial undertones in some of his attacks. Considering how it was often joked that Bill Clinton was the first black president, it’s sad to see the damage he’s done within the African American community.
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