Tracking the Obama campaign in South Carolina

    I'm back on the Barack Obama campaign trail for a few days. This time it's South Carolina, where the primary is January 26, and the political positioning is getting curiouser and curiouser as race and gender play a critical role. You can find my latest story and others on afro.com.

COLUMBIA, S.C.--After a bruising battle in the Nevada caucuses, with New York Sen. Hillary Clinton claiming a most-votes victory, but with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama still holding more delegates than his chief opponent, the two Democratic Party presidential front-runners now have their sights on one particular constituency in South Carolina: Black women.

That constituency was well represented as Obama began to campaign here in earnest Sunday night, just six days before the state’s Saturday primary, with a major rally before thousands at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.

And if Brenda Lowery, Rhodessa Smith and Willie Mae Ferguson are any indication, which candidate will receive the lion’s share of that vote is anybody’s guess.

Lowery, Smith and Ferguson are three friends who are all members in good standing at Antioch Baptist Church here.

They listened intently as Obama got a warm round of applause when he promised to raise the minimum wage "every year to keep up with inflation."

He got a roaring applause when he said, "if we can build new jails, I know we can build new schools."

He repeated his stump speech joke that in the next November's presidential election," the name of

George Bush will not be on the ballot. The name of my cousin, Dick Cheney will not be on the ballot."

When the Obama’s speech was over and with the overflow crowd dispersing, the three friends walked away each with a differing opinion.

Admitting to being “very impressed” by the junior senator from Illinois’ speech, Lowery, 63, said she was still torn between him and Clinton. She said she liked Barack and was “going to weigh everything he says,” but believed that Hillary had the experience.

Smith, on the other hand, said that she is staunchly in Clinton’s camp.

“It’s something about that experience,” said Smith, who at 45 is a year younger than Obama. 

She said she has heard the arguments that Obama should be president because he’s Black or that Hillary should be president because she’s a woman.

“You don’t vote on race or gender; you vote on experience,” Smith said.

Ferguson, 82, said she had not “quite decided” but indicated she was leaning towards supporting Obama. She said she likes him because he is young and might bring change to Washington.

What the three Black women think, and how they will vote, is a major concern and cause for both the Obama and Clinton camps as the South Carolina primary approaches.         

The gender gap has played a crucial role in which of the top two Democratic contenders ended up with the most votes in first three presidential match-ups. In lily-white Iowa, Obama scored an unexpected victory by drawing more women’s votes than Clinton. The junior senator from New York struck back in lily-white New Hampshire by winning 46 percent to Obama’s 34 percent of the women’s vote. In Nevada Hillary beat Barack by 13 percentage points among women.

But South Carolina is different. Here, about half of the Democrats are Black and more than half of the Black Democratic voters are women. That’s why Lowery, Smith and Ferguson’s opinions—and ultimately their votes—are so important.

“I’m going to think about it and pray on it,” Lowery said.

Smith said, “I don’t believe Hillary Clinton is going to keep the same old Washington bureaucracy going.”

Ferguson said she believes Obama should be given a chance to show what he can do.  She cited another young Black leader, who was given the chance to lead the civil rights movement when he was just 26 years old.

“A lot of people didn’t think Martin Luther King could do it,” she said.