Going Deep in the Deep South

Buoyed by an overwhelming edge among African-American voters, Barack Obama cruised to victory over Hillary Clinton in the Mississippi primary, posting a 60-37 percent margin and teeing up a crucial showdown in Pennsylvania, the next major contest in the quest for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Obama, seeking to become America's first African-American president, has enjoyed strong support from black voters throughout the nominating process. But here in the Delta Tuesday night the racial divide was especially stark. According to exit polls, Obama outpolled Clinton among black voters 91-9. White voters preferred Clinton by a slightly narrower 72-21 percent margin.

If the outcome and the racial math were predictable (African-Americans accounted for roughly half the Democratic primary vote), Mississippians did provide a few modest surprises at the ballot box. Exit polls showed some 59 percent of voters disapproved of Clinton's attack ads—part of a strategy that was widely viewed as helping her defeat Obama in the key March 4 contests in Ohio and Texas. And Obama beat Clinton 55-45 among voters who considered the economy the most important factor in the contest—an outcome Obama's team hopes is a harbinger of things to come.

"What we have tried to do is steadily make sure we are making the case for change across the country," Obama told CNN, in relating the tales of economic hardship he said he'd heard as he stumped through the state. "The stories I heard [in Mississippi] are the stories I hear all across the country."

Obama's economic message is critical if he is to erase Clinton's substantial lead in the polls in Pennsylvania. His aides know the battle there is uphill, citing "demographic" factors and the powerful machine of the state's governor, Ed Rendell, a prominent Clinton supporter. Clinton has been spending much of her time there since her March 4 wins; she left daughter Chelsea as the family member in charge of helping to turn out the vote in Mississippi down the home stretch. Obama, by contrast, is taking a more multipronged approach, dividing his time between the Keystone State and Indiana and North Carolina—two other delegate-rich states up for grabs.

Obama's victories helped blunt Clinton's momentum a bit—but then, momentum has been an elusive asset throughout the Democratic marathon. Clinton had kept Obama on the defensive over the last week, over NAFTA and harsh characterizations of Clinton by one of his aides (who has since resigned).