Two narrow victories and one massive loss to Mr. Sanders over the last month had eroded the aura of invincibility that surrounded her and Saturday’s landslide victory in South Carolina, where she won three fourth of the votes, restores that in good measure.
Awaiting 'Super Tuesday'
On March 1 – 'Super Tuesday' as it is called – 11 states will have primaries or caucuses, and could cumulatively reward her with an irreversible lead. Mr Sanders will have to keep the contests on Super Tuesday as close as possible to carry the race forward even as his efforts to make inroads into the black base of the party have had only limited success so far. Five out of six black people voted for Ms. Clinton in South Carolina, according to exit polls.
“Tomorrow, this campaign goes national,” Ms Clinton declared after the results. “We are not taking anything, and we are not taking anyone, for granted.” “This campaign is just beginning…. Our grass-roots political revolution is growing state by state, and we won’t stop now,” Mr Sanders said, after congratulating Ms Clinton.
Big boost for Clinton?
Both Ms Clinton and Mr Sanders criticised Republican front-runner Donald Trump in their responses, keeping their eyes firmly on the November general elections. "Together we can break down all the barriers holding our families and our country back,” Ms Clinton said, in a reference to Mr Trump’s promise to a build a wall along the U.S border with Mexico. “When we come together, and don’t let people like Donald Trump try to divide us, we can create an economy that works for all of us and not just the top 1 percent,” Mr Sanders said.
“We won a decisive victory in New Hampshire. She won a decisive victory in South Carolina. Now it’s on to Super Tuesday. In just three days, Democrats in 11 states will pick 10 times more pledged delegates on one day than were selected in the four early states so far in this campaign,” Mr Sanders said in a statement.
Ms Clinton has the support of a host of black leaders and has also placed herself close to President Barack Obama’s policies. Mr Sanders has been critical of Mr Obama on many occasions. The former secretary of state has also mounted a campaign against Mr Sanders, charging him with ignoring gender and race in his single-minded focus economic inequality. Mr Sanders has been trying to explain his positions in the context of his critique of the prevailing economic order. He is indeed getting a lot of traction too, but the question remains whether he can manage to pull in enough numbers to defeat Ms Clinton whose organisational network and financial strength are formidable.
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