UPDATE: Hillary crushes Sanders in South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)

Hillary Clinton sailed to a commanding victory over Bernie Sanders in Saturday’s South Carolina primary, drawing overwhelming support from the state’s black Democrats and putting her in strong position as the race barrels toward Super Tuesday’s crucial contests.

Clinton’s win provided an important boost for her campaign — and a moment to wipe away bitter memories of her loss to Barack Obama in South Carolina eight years ago.

During a raucous victory rally, Clinton briefly reveled in her sweeping support from South Carolina voters, then quickly looked ahead to the contests to come.

“Tomorrow this campaign goes national,” she said. “We are not taking anything, and we are not taking anyone, for granted.”

Sanders, expecting defeat on Saturday, left the state even before voting was finished and turned his attention to some of the states that vote in next Tuesday’s delegate-rich contests. In a statement, Sanders vowed to fight on aggressively.

“This campaign is just beginning,” he said. “Our grass-roots political revolution is growing state by state, and we won’t stop now.”

Clinton’s victory came at the end of a day that saw Republican candidates firing insults at each other from Super Tuesday states. Donald Trump, working to build an insurmountable lead, was campaigning in Arkansas with former rival Chris Christie and calling Marco Rubio a “light little nothing;” Ted Cruz was asking parents in Atlanta if they would be pleased if their children spouted profanities like the brash billionaire, and Rubio was mocking Trump as a “con artist” with “the worst spray tan in America.”

Clinton allies quickly touted the breadth of her victory. Besides blacks, she won most women and voters aged 30 and older, according to early exit polls.

Sanders continued to do well with young voters, his most passionate supporters. He also carried those who identified themselves as independent and most white voters.

A self-described democratic socialist, Sanders has energized his supporters with impassioned calls for breaking up Wall Street banks and making tuition free at public colleges and universities. But the senator from Vermont, a state where about 1 percent of the population is black, lacks Clinton’s deep ties to the African-American community.