Net Results

The network anchors barely had the words, "The polls are closed in South Carolina," out of their mouths before projecting Illinois Sen. Barack Obama the winner based on exit polls. That's a clear indication, of course, that the big lead that Obama had opened in pre-primary polls was real.

The early readings from the exit poll demographics showed that Obama galvanized the support of black voters behind his bid to become the first African-American president. This factor virtually guarantee his victory in South Carolina, a state where blacks make up roughly 30 percent of the population and are generally estimated to make up half or more of the Democratic primary electorate in a Southern state where the mainly conservative white electorate has long leaned to the Republican Party

The big competition to watch in the actual vote count, then, is for second place, between New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former North Carolina Sen. (and South Carolina native) John Edwards. Though it has been obvious for some time that an Edwards victory in his native state, which would have thrust him into top tier competition with Clinton and Obama, was not happening, a leapfrog into second past Clinton, or even a close third might be seen as something of a comeback -- considering how low he'd sunk in state and national polling after his so-so showing in the New Hampshire primary and his completely-out-of-the-running performance in last Saturday's Nevada caucuses.