Dems vie for black votes in South Carolina

Barack Obama is the leader
in the latest polls.

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Polls point to a Barack Obama victory in South Carolina’s primary today, but the Rev. Larry McCutcheon isn’t so sure.

The pastor of Orangeburg’s Trinity United Methodist Church finds “most of the people I talk to are trying to choose” between Obama and Hillary Clinton.

“Obama brings a freshness,” he said, “but people recognize Clinton’s experience.”

That ambivalence echoed all through the state Friday, as Obama, Clinton and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards spent a frenetic day trying to woo votes in a state that could make or break at least one of them.

Illinois Sen. Obama is counting on strong support from black voters, who could account for as much as half of today’s ballots, in his bid to win his first contest since the Iowa caucus Jan. 3.

But Clinton is trying hard to cut into the black vote. A McClatchy-MSNBC poll released Thursday found Obama ahead of Clinton by 38 percent to 30 percent overall and among blacks by 59 percent to 25 percent. Edwards got 19 percent overall and only 4 percent of blacks.

Clinton, who left South Carolina for two days midweek to campaign elsewhere, returned Thursday and spent the last two days energetically courting blacks; the poll showed that 12 percent of them remained undecided and 48 percent view her favorably.

Clinton’s advisers see a chance for a double knockout today. They figure that a victory in South Carolina not only would crush Edwards in his birth state — whose primary he won four years ago — but also would deal a devastating blow to Obama. Polls have made Obama the favorite, so a Clinton victory would be hailed as an upset, much like New Hampshire on Jan. 8, and would raise questions about Obama’s viability.

Even a second-place Clinton showing probably wouldn’t hurt her much because everyone expects that now, because of polls and because she took the two-day hiatus. That suggested she wasn’t running full-tilt here, even though she left husband Bill Clinton behind in the state campaigning like mad. Only a third-place finish would raise questions about her viability.

Edwards, who’s been gaining ground on Clinton in some surveys as undecided whites appear to be breaking his way, campaigned by bus Friday from Greenville to Charleston and began running a new ad showing Clinton and Obama attacking each other in Monday’s debate.

“This kind of squabbling: How many children is this gonna get health care?” Edwards asks in the ad.

Clinton chatted Friday with Russ Parr on his morning radio show, which has a wide black audience, loaded up at the buffet table at Doc’s Barbecue in Columbia and spoke to students at Benedict College, a historically black institution, where she appeared with former New York Mayor David Dinkins. Clinton was introduced by Stacey Franklin Jones, a college dean who described herself as “a woman, an African-American, a size 9 label wide, a chocoholic” and any other label people like.

“For some of us,” Jones told the audience of 500, “it may take a very, very bold step to walk into that voting booth and focus on our community’s future rather than acting on pure emotion.”

Obama visited a college, holding a short roundtable discussion with three women at the University of South Carolina.

They included Hope Griffin, 17, who attended with her grandmother, Dallas Gabee. Griffin, who can vote next November, praised Obama for a campaign that’s been “positive all along. Students I know are on Obama’s side. Hillary’s name hardly comes up, and John Edwards hardly comes up.”

Gabee was also enthusiastic. “I’m very happy I’m available to vote for a black candidate,” she said, “but I’m not voting for him because he’s black. He’s the best candidate.”