Barack Obama will win the South Carolina Democratic primary by a substantial margin, CNN projects based on exit polls.

Sen. Hillary Clinton was expected to finish second, ahead of former Sen. John Edwards, according to CNN projections.

With 67 percent of precincts reporting, Obama had 54 percent of the vote. Clinton was second with 27 percent, followed by Edwards, with 19 percent.

Obama’s likely victory capped a heated contest in South Carolina, the first Democratic primary in the South and the first with a largely African-American electorate.

Obama, who is hoping to become the United States’ first African-American president, did well with black voters, who made up about half of Saturday’s electorate, according to exit polls.

Black voters supported the Illinois senator by a margin of more than 4-to-1 over his nearest rival, exit polls indicate.

Among white voters, Obama took about a quarter of the vote, with Clinton and Edwards roughly splitting the remainder, those polls indicated.

Clinton issued a statement saying she called Obama to congratulate him.

“We now turn our attention to the millions of Americans who will make their voices heard in Florida and the 22 states as well as American Samoa who will vote on February 5,” she said in the statement.

Clinton beat Obama only among elderly voters, according to the exit polls.

Among voters 65 and older, Clinton beat Obama 40 to 32 percent. But Obama handily defeated Clinton in every other bracket, and overall garnered 58 percent of the vote among 18 to 64-year-olds while 23 percent of those voters picked Clinton.

And half of those polled said both candidates shared blame for the rancor between the two camps. Of those who said one of the contenders was more to blame than the other, 21 percent blamed Clinton, and 6 percent said Obama.

“It’s fairly obvious it’s not going to be over February 5,” Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

A win in South Carolina was considered crucial for Obama, who finished second to Clinton in New Hampshire and Nevada.

“After we won Iowa, everybody was so excited,” Obama told supporters at a rally Friday night. “Everybody said, ‘Oh, look at this. You know, African-American, he’s winning in a state with almost no African-Americans,’ and everybody’s excited, and young people came out.

“And I think people started thinking, ‘Well, you know, this isn’t hard.’ But you know what? The status quo does not give up that easily,” he added.

Edwards was born in South Carolina and won the state’s primary four years ago, when he was making his first bid for the White House. Photo See voters head to the polls in South Carolina »

Edwards had been touting his native status, and as the Clinton and Obama camps have squabbled, Edwards has continued to talk about the issues and suggests he’s the only adult in the field. Video Watch Edwards reach out to voters »

“I’m keeping moving no matter what, but I feel good about how things are moving right now here today,” Edwards told reporters Saturday morning. “I feel there’s a lot of energy behind my campaign.” Video Watch what South Carolina means for Edwards »

On January 15, Edwards pledged, “I’m in this for the long haul. We’re continuing to accumulate delegates. There’s actually a very narrow margin between Sen. Obama, Sen. Clinton and myself on delegates.”

As South Carolina’s Democratic primary voters went to the polls Saturday, almost half of them had made up their minds more than a month ago, according to exit polls.

In the 2004 primary, nearly a quarter decided either the day of the primary or in the three days prior who they would support, but this year, only 10 percent of this year’s voters waited until Saturday to choose.

Another 10 percent decided only in the last three days, and 32 percent decided in the last month.

Forty-seven percent made up their minds at least a month ago, more than double the percentage of 2004.

The early exit polls were taken from a sampling of 1,269 voters statewide.

Following a rough campaign between Clinton and Obama, the two camps toned down the rhetoric in the past two days, returning to the issues and concentrating their firepower on the Republicans rather than on each other.

“I think they [the Republicans] should be gracious and just say, “We have messed this thing up so much we are just going to quit and … we shouldn’t be re-elected,’ but I don’t think that is what they are going to do,” Clinton said.

The South Carolina result will show who has the most support within the party’s core, said CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider.

“South Carolina is important for Democrats for the same reason it’s important for Republicans: It’s the state where the base speaks,” said CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider. “In the Republican case, that means conservatives. For the Democrats, that means African-Americans.”

With white voters’ loyalties divided, blacks hold the key to victory, he said.

“Obama’s support among African-American voters gives him more legitimacy,” Schneider said. “Obama has been doing well with young voters, independents and educated upper-middle-class liberals — the NPR vote. Winning the black vote by a solid margin means Obama has standing with the Democratic Party’s base.
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“The closer Hillary Clinton comes to splitting the black vote with Obama, the easier it will be for her to say that she and Obama share the support of that base,” Schneider added.

South Carolina is the last big test for the Democrats before Super Tuesday, February 5, when nearly two dozen states will hold either primaries or caucuses — including such delegate-rich states as California, New York, New Jersey and Illinois.

Source: CNN.com