Barack Obama rolled up a commanding victory Tuesday in the Mississippi primary, padding his delegate lead and gaining a psychological boost ahead of next month's big Democratic showdown in Pennsylvania.
The results reflected a stark racial divide -- more than nine in 10 African Americans voted for Obama, while seven in 10 whites backed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to exit polls. Overall, black voters accounted for roughly half the vote.
The win was the second in four days for Obama, who also bested Clinton in Saturday's Wyoming caucuses. Although the victory was expected, given Mississippi's large black population and Obama's consistently strong support among African Americans, the win offered the Illinois senator a lift after several rough campaign days.
The Democratic race, which had seemed nearly settled, was thrown wide open last week when Clinton bounced back from an 11-contest losing streak to edge Obama in three of four states, including crucial victories in the Texas and Ohio primaries. Days later, an Obama advisor, Samantha Power, was forced to step aside after disparaging Clinton in an overseas newspaper interview.
"It's just another win in our column, and we are getting more delegates," Obama told CNN in an interview from Chicago, where he spent the night after campaigning in Mississippi and Pennsylvania. (In contrast to the last few weeks, Obama gave no big election-night speech.)
"What we've tried to do is steadily make sure that in each state, we are making the case about the need for change in this country. And obviously the people of Mississippi responded," Obama said.
Clinton, who spent the day stumping in Pennsylvania, had campaign manager Maggie Williams speak on her behalf. "We congratulate Sen. Obama for his win in Mississippi and thank our supporters and volunteers there for their support, hard work and long hours," Williams said in a statement issued after the polls closed. "Now we look forward to campaigning in Pennsylvania and around the country as this campaign continues."
On the Republican side, there was no real contest. Sen. John McCain of Arizona clinched his party's nomination last week and campaigned Tuesday in Missouri before heading to New York for an evening fundraiser. Late results showed him capturing 79% of the GOP vote in Mississippi.
For Democrats, the next six weeks of campaigning will revolve around a single state, Pennsylvania. It votes April 22 and offers 158 pledged delegates, the biggest prize left on the Democrats' dwindling campaign calendar.
