Jan 8, 2008 6:49 pm US/Central
Obama Plans To Revolutionize Politics In South
South Carolina May Be A Key State In 2008 Campaign
COLUMBIA, S.C. (CBS) ―
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Michelle Duff-Mitchell, a recent Depaul Law School graduate, is coordinating Barack Obama's presidential campaign in South Carolina.
CBS
Once the New Hampshire primary wraps up, the talk will turn to the primaries ahead in states like South Carolina.
The Republican primary there is Saturday, January 19. Democrats go to the polls a week later on January 26.
CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports on why that state could play a key role.
Barack Obama's campaign workers fully expect his victory streak to roll on from New Hampshire to South Carolina where the latest polls show him with an 11-point lead.
Obama believes he has a chance to revolutionize Presidental politics in the south.
Since the Iowa victory, phones have been jumping at Obama's South Carolina headquarters where volunteers have been flooding in, coordinated by Chicagoan Michelle Duff-Mitchell, a recent graduate of Depaul Law School.
"We've had so much excitement and energy surrounding the campaign, when I come in at 9 o'clock, I have volunteers waiting for me," Duff-Mitchell said.
Obama and his supporters believe they can change the electoral map of America, by switching some border states from red to blue.
"There are a lot of people who are not going to be shackled by the racial views that have dominated in the south for many years," Obama supporter I.S. Leevy-Johnson said.
Obama talks about winning Mississippi, where a third of the population is black, and Georgia as well. He believes Tennessee and South Carolina could be in play as well. Former South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges is an Obama supporter.
"In South Carolina, I'm just amazed at the number of Republicans and independents who've come to me to say they're excited and interested in Barack Obama as a candidate. I've never seen a phenomenon like this," Hodges said.
But not everyone's buying it. South Carolina's one of the nation's most conservative states where the confederacy is still revered.
State Senator Robert Ford, a longtime friend of both Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton, doesn't believe enough whites will vote for Obama.
"Now we expect America to say that even though we never elected black governors, black U.S. senators, black dog catchers, or city council members, we're ready to vote for a black president. I can't buy into that," Ford said.
To some extent, the size of those two factions of voters will determine Obama's success in South Carolina and beyond. On one side, there are supporters who believe he can transcend race, on the other side, opponents insist race will be his downfall. So far here, the supporters are large and growing.
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