'Stinging defeat' for Hillary

2008-01-27 14:32

Nashville - Hillary Clinton quickly bounced up off the canvas after her most lopsided electoral loss, but Barack Obama's South Carolina primary rout posed tough new questions for her White House bid.

The Democratic hopeful's motorcade was already speeding for the airport when the scale of the Obama landslide became clear, en route for Tennessee, a key battleground in a nationwide 22-state showdown on February 5.

The Illinois Senator, riding a wave of African American support, drubbed the former first lady by 55% to 27% in the "first in the south" primary, tying their nominating race at two major contests each.

But a defiant Clinton dispensed with a concession speech, and skipped from a state which had already voted, to one where battle was yet to be joined.

Senator Clinton did call her rival before her chartered 737 took off, and as she jetted to Nashville, issued a statement congratulating Obama, which nevertheless bristled with verve for the big fights to come.

"We now turn our attention to the millions of Americans who will make their voices heard in Florida and the twenty-two other states as well as American Samoa who will vote on February 5," she said.

Within a couple of hours, Clinton was wallowing in the welcome of a gymnasium packed with 4 000 supporters, some holding signs saying "I love you Hillary" as a college brass band blasted away.

But the hooplah could not disguise the walloping handed to Clinton - a victory even more emphatic than the most one-sided polls had predicted.

Stinging defeat

In pure numbers, South Carolina handed down the most stinging defeat of her career as an elected politician - though it appeared less profound than Obama's shock victory in the Iowa caucuses on January 3.

That reverse had threatened to pitch the Clinton campaign into meltdown, and nerves were only steadied when she pulled off a sensational triumph in the New Hampshire primary five days later.

Obama's win also appeared to represent a stinging rejection of former president Bill Clinton, who turned on Obama ahead of the primary.

Exit polls showed undecided voters may have been turned off by the ex-president's tactics and flocked to Obama.

The Clinton braintrust must now decide whether to reassess how it deploys the ex-president.

The primary, which saw Obama claim 81% of black voters, also saw the former first lady deserted by a key Democratic powerbase which helped her husband capture two White House terms.

But Obama was also left with questions. It was unclear if his primacy among African Americans would be replicated in February 5 states, where the black vote is less dominant than South Carolina.

Equally uncertain, was whether the triumph would unleash a fresh wave of momentum, seen after his Iowa caucuses win, only halted by Clinton in New Hampshire.

Bypass suggested

Aboard her plane, Clinton's aides admitted they had seen the rout coming, but styled it as an aberration, on territory - with half of the Democratic electorate made up of African Americans - favorable for her foe.

One aide said campaign strategists had argued the former first lady should bypass the state altogether.

But Clinton decided she needed to put up at least a token fight, to show she would wage a 50 state campaign for the presidency.

Clinton's mention of Florida was no accident.

Tens of thousands of people in the southern state have already cast advance votes ahead of Tuesday's Democratic primary, even though its delegates to the national convention, which formally chooses the nominee, were stripped after it broke party rules and moved its contest forward.

Clinton says votes of millions of people in a state crucial to November's general election, cannot be simply tossed away.

Not coincidentally, she is tipped for victory in the phantom Florida primary, which could swing momentum back her way going into Super Tuesday.

Though she said she will stand by a pledge not to campaign in Florida, Clinton was due to visit the state on Sunday for two private fundraisers.

She will then take her campaign nationwide, and has high hopes, with the edge in opinion polls in big delegate-rich states like California, New Jersey, and her own patch of New York.

- AFP