Obama rolls to easy win in Mississippi primary

[DeepModem Mom]

LAT: Obama rolls to easy win in Mississippi primary
The win was expected -- but Clinton outdid him among those who said they made their choice within the last week.
By Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Barack Obama rolled up a commanding victory Tuesday in the Mississippi primary, padding his delegate lead and gaining a psychological boost ahead of next month's big Democratic showdown in Pennsylvania.

The results reflected a stark racial divide -- 9 in 10 African Americans voted for Obama while more than seven in 10 whites backed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to exit polls. Overall, black voters accounted for roughly half the vote.

The win was the second in four days for Obama, who also bested Clinton in Saturday's Wyoming caucuses. Although the victory was expected, given Mississippi's big black population and Obama's consistently strong support among African Americans, the win offered the Illinois senator a lift after several rough campaign days....

"It's just another win in our column and we are getting more delegates," Obama told CNN in an interview from Chicago, where he spent the night after campaigning in Mississippi and Pennsylvania. (In contrast to the past few weeks, Obama gave no big election night speech.) "What we've tried to do is steadily make sure that in each state, we are making the case about the need for change in this country. And obviously the people of Mississippi responded," Obama said....

***

There were 33 pledged delegates at stake in Mississippi; Obama won at least 17 and Clinton at least 11, according to the Associated Press. In all, that gives Obama at least 1,596 delegates, and Clinton 1,484. It takes 2,025 to win the Democratic nomination.

With more than nine-tenths of Mississippi's precincts reporting late Tuesday, Obama had 59% of the vote to Clinton's 39%....

One in four whites said race was important to their vote and nearly all of them voted for Clinton. Four in 10 blacks said race was important and nearly all voted for Obama. The high black turnout helped Obama beat Clinton among voters across a range of education and incomes.

Reflecting his recent difficulties, however, Clinton edged Obama among voters who said they made their final decision within the last week. About one in six voters were independents, and Clinton and Obama split their support, a contrast with earlier states where Obama tended to run stronger. About 10% of voters were Republican and they preferred Clinton by a 3-to-1 margin, a reversal from most other states....

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-campaign12mar12,0,2036360.story

[aquart]

1. Playing the race card was the best thing he ever did.

For himself.