South Carolina Watching

By Creature

(Update -- 12:45 am: See the latest at the NYT, the WaPo, CBS, ABC, and CNN (which has the results here). Check out Chris Bowers, Pamela Leavey, the moderate Joe Gandelman and, on the right, Ed Morrissey. See also Andrew Sullivan on Obama's victory speech: "This is the America we all love. He is showing us how to find it again. That's leadership." As always, there is much more at Memeorandum. -- MJWS)

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6:20 - Turnout looks big. Always a good sign for democracy (and bad news for Bush). No surprise: MSNBC is setting up the SC vote to be a referendum on Bill and his magic wagging finger. Personally I'm hoping for some Bill-backlash. Hillary's people: Grow-up, this is politics (and, when Obama wins it's because of race). I'm thinking this thing gets called early. Maybe right at seven. Stay tuned.

7:00 - And, it's over. Barack wins South Carolina by a "substantial margin." These exit polls are going to be interesting.

7:20 - It's being called a "rout." Whites joined in to put Obama over the top. Yes, Hillary, your husband is a liability.

7:32 - MSNBC is getting a bit breathless. It sounds a lot like Iowa's aftermath. Obama owns the narrative tonight by winning so big. Keith O: the exit poll numbers are "daunting." Even Keith's swept up. Cool.

7:45 - They call second place for Hillary. Looks like Edwards will get his usual 15-20%. That's not the surge he needed to stay viable. It's a shame.

8:37 - Suddenly Obama is a genius for suckering Bill into a fight. Suddenly it's Obama who got into Bill's head. Wow, the media can turn on a dime. Either way for the Clintons it's "on to Florida." Where they shouldn't be and where their presence only serves to further destroy their party. Slash, meet burn.

8:50 - Here's Bill clearly crossing the race line. He wants Obama to be the black candidate. They are willing to lose the black vote in exchange for the bigot vote. End. Of. Story.



9:00 - Victory speech time. How do you spin "landslide"? Very successfully, I assume.

9:20 - The man moves me. He's the melting pot candidate and I love it.

(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)