Obama Needs Big SC Win

With a double-digit lead over Hillary Clinton going into today's South Carolina primary, and Clinton having turned her attention to Super Tuesday states, Barack Obama can’t just win today, he must dominate, reports the Wall Street Journal. In a state where some 50% of registered Democrats are African-American, anything less could hurt his image among voters nationally.

"Obama has been doing well with young voters, independents, and educated upper-middle-class liberals—the NPR vote. Winning the black vote by a solid margin means Obama has standing with the Democratic Party's base," reports CNN analyst Bill Schneider. Leading by up to 16% in polls overall, Obama has slid recently from 20% to 10% among white South Carolina Democrats, a disturbing development for a candidate who hoped to make issues, not race, the focus of his campaign. (More Barack Obama stories.)