A Good, Old-fashioned Butt Kicking

That's how David Axelrod, Obama's Chief Strategist described it. While a win for Obama in South Carolina was almost a forgone conclusion, the scale of the win - a 28% percent margin - was certainly not anticipated. Obama's greater than 2 to 1 victory over Hillary came about primarily because of unprecedented voter turnout. Obama polled greater than Mike Huckabbe and John McCain combined in the Republican Primary here in South Carolina just a week ago. Moreover, Obama's total of more than 290,000 votes is greater than the entire turn-out in the 2004 South Carolina Democratic primary. While the large African-American population in SC is certainly a key factor in the scale of this win, the role of Obama's superb grassroots organising shouldn't be under-estimated. From CNN:

Much has been written about the strength of Barack Obama's ground organization in South Carolina, largely driven by volunteers. Some observers considered it his best among the early-voting states.

- snip -

Take, for instance, the tiny town of Estill, located in Hampton County in the southern part of the state.

In the 2004 presidential primary, just 264 total votes were cast in Estill.

In this primary race, the Obama campaign made sure to send staff and volunteers to the town. Tonight, amid unprecedented Democratic turnout across the state, 575 votes were cast in Estill, with 459 of them going to Obama, 92 to Hillary Clinton and 24 to John Edwards.

Obama's ability to motivate people, to energize volunteers and garner votes from people who have never voted before is a huge strength, and it's not just a fluke, now we've seen it in Iowa and South Carolina too. The Democrats would be very foolish to pass up this opportunity to capitalise on the Obamania that's building, and turn it into a land-slide victory in November.

And finally, it's time for the victory speech:



Yes we can!

- Mr. Ed


Update
In related news, both Ted Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy endorsed Obama today.


Photo via Andrew Sullivan (Photo: the scene at Obama headquarters in South Carolina tonight. Win McNamee/Getty.)