S. Carolina Polls Close at 7:00 PM - Read Results Here and Enter Your Comments - Obama Wins Big

"An ongoing thread...."

More good news concerning Democratic voter turn-out. Some exit polls are showing 2 to 21/2 times the turnout of Democrats in 2004. This continues to show the frustration many Democrats feel in regard to the current administration and the need for a change.

The turnout was also 2 times the 2004 turnout in the previous three primaries (Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada) but turnout by itself did not indicate who was receiving their support with Obama winning Iowa and Clinton winning N.H. and Nevada.

Obama had a double digit lead in the polls going into today with Edwards gaining points and Clinton losing points. Many of the political talking heads will break down today's vote as to the split among african-american, white, women, and youth.

45 Delegates are at stake here. Edwards reportedly has spent more than Obama and Clinton combined on television ad buys - he realizes he has to get some results here prior to super Tuesday.

6:05 PM - less than an hour for the polls to close. some interesting exit polls being reported at msnbc - 70% voters felt Clinton unfairly attacking Obama, and 56% voters felt Obama unfairly attacking Clinton. A breakdown of these numbers based on age, race, gender will also be interesting.

6:55 PM - some more msnbc exit polls - country ready for a woman president - yes- 74%, african american president - yes - 77%. who is best for commander in chief - Obama - 47%, Clinton - 35%, Edwards - 19%. This last question is not good news for Edwards for it likely to be close to the outcome of the vote today for this is important to voters.

7:01 PM - msnbc already calls it for Obama - using the words a substantial victory, They had Clinton in 2nd and then Edwards but they are not calling the 2nd place winner yet.

7:10 PM - more exit polls on black - white vote split. Obama - 81% - Black, 24% - white, Clinton - 17% - Black, 36% - white, Edwards - 1% - Black, 29% - white Looks like the white vote was pretty much equally split among the candidates.

Obama to give victory speech at 9:00 PM

7:38 PM msnbc projects Clinton as second place winner. So much for Edwards getting a bounce here.

Politico has a story on the robo calls made by the Clinton campaign against edwards - pretty nasty stuff - click here to read what was said: http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0108/Clinton_robocalls_hit_Edwards.html

8:10 PM msnbc showing speech by former president Bill Clinton - what's with this? Where's Hillary?

It is being reported Caroline Kennedy will endorse Obama in NY Times tomorrow.

9:00 PM Obama about to speak - 87% precincts reporting - Obama 54%, Clinton - 27%, Edwards - 19% This was a 2-1 thumping by Obama. Let's see what he has to say.

9:25 PM Wow!, another incredible speech. Spoke of the time for change, without speaking Clinton's name he nailed her over and over again. spoke of how change won't be easy, the status quo will fight with all their might, spoke about the need to bring people together on the war, health care, the economy, and education - this is about the past v. the future. he ended with for those who are cynics and think we can't change - 'Yes We Can"! I will look for the youtube of the speech tomorrow and post.

9:50 PM - Edwards gave a good speech - is still saying he is in through february 5th and beyond. He will have an impact. Hillary was giving a speech in Nashville, Tenn - gave a one sentence statement on S. Carolina and then went into her stump speech. Both she and her husband Bill earlier both also spoke of it's on to Florida - this is a ridiculous statement for like in Michigan where she was the only leading democratic candidate who stayed on the ballot, Florida has also had it's delegates stripped by the DNC so the outcome there is meaningless.