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Clinton cruises to big win over Sanders in South Carolina

 
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a "Get Out The Vote Rally" in Columbia, S.C., Friday, Feb. 26, 2016. [Gerald Herbert | Associated Press]
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a "Get Out The Vote Rally" in Columbia, S.C., Friday, Feb. 26, 2016. [Gerald Herbert | Associated Press]
Published Feb. 28, 2016

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Hillary Clinton overwhelmed Bernie Sanders in Saturday's South Carolina primary, drawing staggering support from the state's black Democrats and seizing an increasingly strong position as the presidential race barrels toward Super Tuesday's crucial contests.

Clinton's lopsided win — she led by 47 points with nearly all precincts counted — provided an important boost for her campaign and a moment to wipe away bitter memories of her loss to Barack Obama in South Carolina eight years ago. She won the support of nearly nine in 10 black voters, crucial Democratic backers who abandoned her for Obama in 2008.

During a raucous victory rally, Clinton briefly reveled in her sweeping support from South Carolina voters, hugging backers and posing with them for selfies. But then she pivoted quickly to the contests to come.

"Tomorrow this campaign goes national," she said. "We are not taking anything, and we are not taking anyone, for granted."

Sanders, expecting defeat, left the state even before voting was finished and turned his attention to Tuesday's delegate-rich contests.

Putting South Carolina behind him upon his arrival in Rochester, Minn., on Saturday night, he gave a campaign speech of more than 50 minutes to cheering supporters — and never mentioned the day's events.

Before the speech, he told reporters: "In politics on a given night, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Tonight we lost."

Clinton's victory came at the end of a day that saw Republican candidates firing insults at each other from Super Tuesday states. Donald Trump, working to build an insurmountable lead, was campaigning in Arkansas and Tennessee with former rival Chris Christie and calling Marco Rubio a "light little nothing." Ted Cruz was asking parents in Atlanta if they would be pleased if their children spouted profanities like the brash billionaire, and in suburban Atlanta, Rubio was mocking Trump as a "con artist" with "the worst spray tan in America."

The biggest surprise of the day may have been Trump receiving a supportive nod from Jean-Marie Le Pen, the far-right founder of the National Front in France who was tossed from the party over racially tinged rhetoric. "If I were an American, I would vote Donald Trump," Le Pen said in a Twitter post in French. "But may God protect him."

His support for Trump could be an attack line exploited by Democrats should Trump become the GOP nominee.

Also Saturday, Trump's campaign announced the endorsement of Jan Brewer, the former Arizona Republican governor. She signed a tough-on-illegal-immigration bill in 2010, but also took the Medicaid expansion offered under Obama's signature health care law, upsetting some conservatives.

Though Saturday's turnout in South Carolina was low, Clinton allies quickly touted the breadth of her victory. Besides blacks, she won most women and voters age 30 and over, according to early exit polls.

Sanders continued to do well with young voters, his most passionate supporters. He also carried those who identified themselves as independents. All registered voters could vote in either the Democratic or Republican primary but not in both.

A self-described democratic socialist, Sanders has energized his supporters with impassioned calls for breaking up Wall Street banks and making tuition free at public colleges and universities. But the senator from Vermont, a state where about 1 percent of the population is black, lacks Clinton's deep ties to the African-American community.

Still, he did invest heavily in South Carolina, with 200 paid staff on the ground and an aggressive TV advertising campaign.

Exit polls showed six in 10 voters in the primary were black, by far the largest proportion in any of the contests so far. About seven in 10 said they wanted the next president to continue Obama's policies, and only about 20 percent wanted a more liberal course of action, according to the polls conducted by Edison Research for the Associated Press and television networks.

Clinton's sweeping victory suggested South Carolina voters had put aside any lingering tensions from her heated 2008 contest with Obama. Former President Bill Clinton made statements during that campaign that were seen by some, including influential South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, as questioning the legitimacy of the black presidential contender.

This time around, Clyburn endorsed Clinton, and her husband was well-received as he traveled the state on her behalf. She focused on issues with particular resonance in the black community and held an emotional event with black mothers whose children died in shootings.

Clinton's second White House bid lurched to an uneven start, with a narrow victory over Sanders in Iowa and a crushing loss in New Hampshire. She pulled off a 5-point win over Sanders in the Nevada caucuses on Feb. 20, a crucial victory that helped stem Sanders' momentum.

Clinton's campaign hopes her strong showing in South Carolina foreshadows similar outcomes in states like Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Virginia that vote Tuesday and have large minority populations.

Taken together, 865 Democratic delegates are up for grabs in the Super Tuesday contests in 11 states and American Samoa.

Information from the New York Times was used in this report.