U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama showed a strong lead in the South Carolina primary as the ballots were being counted.
With 41 percent of precincts' ballots calculated, the Illinois senator led the primary with 53 percent of the votes, followed by New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton with 28 percent and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards with 19 percent.
"I have called Senator Obama to congratulate him and wish him well," Clinton said in a statement.
She also expressed her gratitude towards "the people of South Carolina who voted today and welcomed me into their homes over the last year."
The former first lady, who had left South Carolina on a campaign tour for the "Super Tuesday" full-scale races, said, "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 Feb. 5."
She vowed to continue with work to give voice to "those who are working harder than ever to be heard," and "who have lost their jobs or their homes or their health care."
Citing exit polls, U.S. media including CNN, Fox News and AP all had forecast Obama's big victory in the party's first race in the South shortly after the polling states closed at 7 p.m. EST (2400 GMT).
The exit polls released by CNN show that the African American candidate won 80 percent of the black voters, who accounted for nearly half of Democratic voters in the state, while Clinton only won 17 percent.
However, Obama was the least popular among white voters, winning only 27 percent of white men and 22 percent of white women, compared to Edwards' 44 percent of white men and Clinton's 42 percent of white women.
Like the states that have already held primaries and caucuses, the turnout of South Carolina's primary broke record, indicating a high interest of voters in the race.
According to State Democratic party director Joe Werner, the number was estimated to reach 315,000, compared to 292,000 in 2004.
"We have good choices," Werner said, "Democrats are more excited than ever before."
Among the voters that CNN polled, 31 percent said they made their choices last week, and 69 percent said they did it even before that.
When asked which candidate was more experienced, 83 percent of voters chose Clinton and 9 percent preferred Edwards while only 7 percent supported Obama.
South Carolina, a state with a population of more than 4 million, nearly 30 percent of which are black people, was considered a "must-win" for Obama, since he had lost New Hampshire and Nevada to Clinton and needed to restore his momentum before "Super Tuesday," which falls on Feb. 5, when primaries and caucuses will be held in over 20 states.
Source: Xinhua
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