The Palmetto Preview

At time of writing, the polls in South Carolina have been open for a mere two hours, and already speculation is being made about the winner of. Of course, with a 13 point lead in the opinion polls, it would be inconceivable if Obama did not win the state. Hillary Clinton, I think that's the Clinton that is running, has seemingly accepted defeat and has moved on to Florida, leaving Bill to campaign for her in SC. It has been a week of fighting, nastiness, and sometimes petulant squabbling, but that's how we like our politics. Obama's heavy lead in South Carolina has a lot to do with half of the voters being African American, and the candidates have done a lot to entice these voters. They have been going to church services in predominantly black churches, and the race card has played a large role this week due to Martin Luther King Jr Day. We have seen a lot more of Bill Clinton this week, due to his popularity amongst the African American community.

Whilst Bill has been defending his wife's Walmart links, and once again criticising Obama's 'inexperience', Hillary has been down to the sunshine state to do some campaigning herself. Whilst Florida has been a focal point for the Republicans it has been largely ignored by the Democrats, due to no delegates being up for grabs due to a violation of DNC rules. But Mrs Clinton has decided that doesn't matter, and believes that securing the win in Florida will give her momentum going into Super Tuesday.

In other Democrat news Dennis Kucinich has finally dropped out of the race, after poor showings in the primaries and achieving no where near the 15% margin that is needed to be awarded delegates. John Edwards has accepted his fate that he is not going to be president but will stay in the race. With it being a neck and neck tie between Obama and Clinton, Edwards advisors believe that he could play a key kingmaker role in exchange for delegates. Also, The New York Times has lent its endorsement to Hillary Clinton, praising her experience in the editorial. This is no surprise, she is after all the Senator from New York.

Polls close at 7pm ET, that's 12am GMT, with results expected from about half 12 onwards. This is the last major primary for the Democrats before Super Tuesday so expect frantic cross country campaigning from all candidates from both parties throughout the whole of next week.

Also for those who haven't seen it check out The Colbert Report from Tuesday night. It had an utterly fantastic segment on the Charlestown Hospital Strike of 1969, and an absolutely wonderful interview with Andrew Young. It really is unmissable.