Voters in South Carolina do care, a lot.
At least that's what the results in the primary reveal.
WASHINGTON -- Landslide margins among black voters powered Barack Obama to his win Saturday in South Carolina's Democratic presidential primary, allowing him to overcome the telling edge Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards had among whites.
Blacks made up 55 percent of the voters in Saturday's contest, slightly more than turned out in the state's primary four years ago and by far their biggest share in any presidential contest so far this year. Obama won 78 percent of their votes, with black men and women supporting the Illinois senator by about that same margin, according to exit polls of Democratic voters conducted Saturday for The Associated Press and the networks.
...Highlighting the decisive role race played in Saturday's voting, eight in 10 of Obama's votes came from blacks. About six in 10 of Clinton's and nearly all of Edwards' came from whites.
...Racial attitudes were also in play in voters' perceptions of how effective the candidates would be if elected. Whites were far likelier to name Clinton than Obama as being most qualified to be commander in chief, likeliest to unite the country and most apt to capture the White House in November. Blacks named Obama over Clinton by even stronger margins — two- and three-to one — in all three areas.
The South Carolina primary was a race decided by race.
Apparently, Democrats aren't colorblind.
And it's clear that while Bill Clinton may have been the first black President, Hillary is not considered the first black Co-President. I guess voters don't buy the notion that her years in the White House should count on her own political résumé.
I don't think she even gets credit for being the first black First Lady.
In sum--
Obama is black.
Hillary is white.
That shouldn't matter.
Both are green.
That should matter tremendously when it comes to choosing the next president.
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