Sunday, January 27, 2008

A South Carolina Thumpin' and the Momentum Swings

Barack Obama - 55%
Hillary Clinton - 27%
John Edwards - 18%

Pretty amazing. Soon after polls closed, it became clear that the only question left would be how large the margin of victory would be. I was legitimately worried that "only" a 10% victory would let the Clintons spin this into a win. However, you can't shine shit, and losing 2-to-1 is never a good thing. The CNN exit polls show that Obama won across demographics, and the media narrative has thankfully focused on that. Also, it looks like Noam Scheiber's "reverse Bradley effect theory" was proven, at least in SC: black voter preference for Obama was under-reported because of a desire to appear colorblind.

On the heels of the win came major endorsement news: Ted Kennedy would be announcing his support for Obama at a rally at American University on Monday (which I cannot attend due to work!). This should hopefully seal the MA primary and put a nail in the "Obama the Reaganite" story being pushed by Camp Clinton. Plus, the media will now have a day to cover both the victory and the endorsement before the Florida primary.

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