COLUMBIA, S.C. _ Joe Biden pulled it off.
Biden won the South Carolina Democratic primary, giving him a chance to make a case for his continued candidacy toward another uphill fight on Super Tuesday next week. The Associated Press and television networks called the race Biden as soon as voting ended, indicating that exit polls pointed to a wide margin of victory.
It was Biden's first win in a single nominating contest in his third run for the presidency, spanning 33 years.
Biden, who started the race as a front-runner and faltered after dismal performances in Iowa and New Hampshire, doesn't have much time to celebrate as he looks forward to three days from now, when 14 states' votes will account for one-third of delegates to the Democratic convention. Biden doesn't have the resources or field operations that some of his competitors like front-runner Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and the billionaire New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who will be appearing on the ballot for the first time.
Biden had invested heavily in South Carolina, spending most of the last few weeks campaigning here and he was one of the only candidates who stayed in the state for the results. Sanders had moved on to Virginia.
Critical to Biden's win was support from African American voters, with whom he polls well and who make up about 60% of the Democratic primary electorate in the state.
"I think there are people who underestimate what Joe Biden means to South Carolina and how people view him in South Carolina," said Fletcher Smith, a former state representative and Biden consultant. "And I think it extends beyond South Carolina to Super Tuesday's southern states where there's a strong rural presence but also the flirtation of urban and suburban-ness."
Smith predicts there will be fractures within the African American community _ as there appeared to be in South Carolina with older and younger black voters split on Biden. "I think in the end Joe Biden is poised to do well (with black voters) and so will, in all honesty, Bernie Sanders and Michael Bloomberg," Smith said.
At the polls on Tuesday, Tonya Arthur, 49, said she voted for Biden because "We know him here. It wasn't a tough decision and I think he has the best chance about Trump, I hope so anyway."
"I think he understands middle class people. I think he's got a pretty good chance if people get out and vote."
Frederick Hogett Jr., 51, thinks he has the best chance against Trump. "And he has similar views to Barack Obama because he was his vice president and for me also theologically listening to all the candidates at the debate _ they were all over the place and my Christian values are really important to me.
"I think it's gonna be close, I think it's gonna be him and Bernie neck and neck."
Crystal Tucker, 35, pulled into her polling station unsure who she'd vote for between Biden and Tom Steyer, who went all in on the state, investing an unprecedented $23 million in television and digital advertising in the state.
Once inside she picks Steyer, partly because her cousin works for him and she liked the positive things her cousin had to say. "I felt it would be good to have a new person, a breath of fresh air."
Maria Ragin also voted for Steyer. She likes his push for congressional term limits. "It was between him and Joe Biden. I voted for Tom because of term limits and his view on climate control, which is also his view on taking America back _ giving America back to the people because we don't own our country anymore."
Many younger South Carolinians said they voted for Sanders or Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Saturday.
Lizzie Grosso, a 20-year-old art student at the University of South Carolina voted for Sanders after attending a rally at a city park in Columbia the day before. Grosso is Latina and said she feels like she has a place in Sanders' campaign. "I'm not alienated and he's doing things that support people like me and truly people of color and that's just something we haven't seen in this country unfortunately," she said.
She thinks Biden's support within the black community is overrated. "It's superficial. If you look around here you see real diversity."
