Will Obama get the breadth of support that he needs?

With the polling stations in South Carolina due to close at 7pm ET (0000 GMT) there is not long to wait for the next chapter in the extraordinary drama of this year’s bitter contest for the Democratic nomination.

For Obama tonight is pretty crucial. Not only does he need to carry the state with an emphatic margin he needs to show as well that his support is more broadly based than the black communities. For if not then the awesome Clinton machine will be able to marginalise the result and Obama’s bid.

This isn’t going to be pretty and the aftermath of the voting could be nearly as important as the result itself.

The RCP average of the SC polls has the black senator from Illinois at 11.6% ahead.

Betting on the democratic nomination is here

Mike Smithson