COLUMBIA, South Carolina - Senator Barack Obama won an invigorating victory over White House foe Hillary Clinton in South Carolina on Saturday, riding a massive wave of support from African-Americans in his bid to become the first black US president.
US television projected Obama as the winner in the key contest for the Democratic Party nomination, with Clinton in second place trailed by former senator John Edwards in third.
Obama, who badly needed a win to keep his hopes alive, was projected to win with 81 percent of the black vote, while Clinton, who would be the first woman US president, took 17 percent of that segment according to a CNN exit poll.
The South Carolina vote marked a second key victory for Obama and evened the score with Clinton, who has also won two key state primaries ahead of a blitz of nearly two dozen nationwide contests on February 5.
CNN said early indications were that the charismatic Illinois senator had won 53 percent of the state vote, after the earlier dropping contests in New Hampshire and Nevada following his shock triumph in Iowa.
Exit polls showed the vote was divided along racial and gender lines, in a state where African-Americans make up half the Democratic electorate.
Obama won 81 percent of the black vote and 24 percent of the white vote, according to early network exit poll results. Edwards won 39 percent of the white vote, while Clinton took 36 percent.
According to a CBS exit poll, South Carolina Democrats said the economy was the number one issue, with 89 percent saying the state of the nation's finances was bad.
Also, 53 percent said change -- the main theme of Obama's campaign -- was the most important quality they were seeking in a presidential candidate, while just 14 percent picked Clinton's promise of experience.
Seventy-seven percent said the country was ready for a black president, while 74 percent felt the same about a woman president.
Local officials said early indications were that turnout was heavy, the latest sign of soaring enthusiasm for the 2008 field among Democratic voters.
A bruising week of campaigning in South Carolina featured both camps accusing the other of playing racial politics, and sparked a debate about former president Bill Clinton's fiery interventions on behalf of his wife.
Obama dismissed suggestions earlier Saturday the Democratic Party was splitting into racially based powerblocks.
"We won in Iowa, that's 94 percent white," he told MSNBC television, adding he "practically tied" with Clinton in New Hampshire with a mainly white electorate.
"I'm absolutely confident that when you look at where we are drawing support from across the country that we'll do very well."
Ahead of the vote, both camps geared up to fight a war of spin over the results.
Clinton's entourage did not wait for final results, heading out shortly after polls closed at 7 pm (0000 GMT) and looking to new battles with a rally in the battleground state of Tennessee Saturday night.
The Obama camp highlighted the massive amounts of cash that Clinton had poured into her effort to win the state, portraying his win -- even before polls closed -- as a debilitating loss for the former first lady.
"We feel great about the strength of our ground game in South Carolina, where we've taken on the full force of both Clintons, their persistent dishonest attacks and their ground operation," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a memo.
Analysts said however that Obama may not get too much of a momentum "bounce" heading into February 5.
"For Obama, a win in South Carolina is the equivalent of holding serve," said University of New Hampshire political scientist Dante Scala.
Polls showed Clinton with sizeable leads in delegate-rich states such as California, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Together these states account for 970 delegates, nearly half the total at stake on February 5 and a quarter of the total to be seated at the party's August nominating convention in Denver.
But Democratic Party rules provide for proportional allocation of delegates in each state so it is conceivable that Clinton and Obama could be locked in a tight delegate fight that could spill over into the convention, where 2025 delegates are needed for the nomination.
bur-ksh/mdl

01/27/2008 00:44 GMT