Students react to South Carolina outcome
Barack Obama won big in Saturday’s primary election.
Published Jan. 27, 2008
Winning by the biggest margin of victory held by any winner of a Democratic nominating contest this year, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., took gold in the South Carolina primaries on Saturday, reining in 55 percent of the vote.
“Tonight, the cynics who believe what began in the snows of Iowa was just an illusion were told differently by the good people of South Carolina,” Obama said in his victory speech.
Meredith Segal, the national director for Students for Barack Obama, called Obama’s landslide victory “a great validation” of the presidential hopeful’s Jan. 3 win at the Iowa caucus.
“Not so long ago people said the mission was an impossible one,” Segal said.
Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., who came in second with 27 percent of the vote, congratulated Obama from a stump speech in Nashville, Tenn.
Teens For Clinton national president Thomas Senecal said Clinton has the experience necessary to achieve the presidency.
“Now the battle moves on to Super Tuesday,” Senecal said.
Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton — who won South Carolina twice when he was on the trail in 1992 and 1996 —campaigned aggressively in South Carolina in recent weeks and, in the process of doing so, raised controversy over their criticism of remarks made by Obama in reference to the presidency of Ronald Reagan.
At a January 21 debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., the two candidates argued fiercely about claims they had made against one another on the stump and in the press.
Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., secured only 18 percent of the vote — coming in third — but has decided to remain in the race, despite the fact he has not claimed any victories in the nominating contests he has participated in thus far in the election.
Jessica Stein, executive director of Mizzou for John Edwards, said the organization is remaining optimistic for their chosen candidate.
“I think he’s up against some stiff odds,” Stein said. “We’ve got three really strong candidates.”
MU College Democrats president Caitlin Ellis said she was surprised, not only by Obama’s margin of victory, but also by the participation by Democratic voters in the event.
“I think it’s really exciting that so many people came out for the primary,” Ellis said.
Due to their affiliation with the Democratic National Committee, the College Democrats are unable to endorse a single Democratic candidate before one is nominated.