30 points. That's a huge win. And Edwards won whites. This wasn't predicted by any of the polls, and so, I'd argue, wasn't coming from the organizing or advertising run by the campaigns. It was sentiment: On the one hand, enthusiasm for Obama and, on the other, anger at the Clintons. It also restores the central argument for Obama's candidacy: His ability to pull in new voters, to overwhelm the apathy that generally cools turnout, to forge new coalitions. Obama's rationale -- that I will form a new majority -- really benefits from concrete examples of him forming a new majority. A 30 point win in South Carolina is one of those examples. The remarkable thing about this primary is how each election night seems to fully remake the map. A week ago, I'd have said Obama was waning. Last night, I heard the pollsters tell me that South Carolina was tightening. Today, Obama wins, not by five points, or 10 points, but by a margin more suited to banana republics. And then you have Bill Clinton explain that, well, Jesse Jackson also won South Carolina. That could be a smart, if cynical, political ploy to press the media into racializing Obama's victory. Or it could backfire hugely.
