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Obama's No. 2 Nevada finish sets up S.C. showdown

BY MARTIN C. EVANS | martin.evans@newsday.com

10:09 PM EST, January 19, 2008

LAS VEGAS - Having suffered his second consecutive loss in a presidential nomination contest, Barack Obama claimed a moral victory in Nevada Saturday, saying his organization had battled Hillary Rodham Clinton to the wire and had walked away with more delegates than she had.

"We're proud of the campaign we ran in Nevada," Obama e-mailed reporters after he flew to Chicago. "We came from over 25 points behind to win more national convention delegates than Hillary Clinton because we performed well all across the state, including rural areas where Democrats have traditionally struggled."

The Clinton campaign disputed Obama, saying in a statement that delegates won't be awarded until April 19.

But Obama's No. 2 finish sets up a key primary showdown Saturday in South Carolina, a state he must win to regain the political momentum he captured with his shocking victory in Iowa.

South Carolina offers Obama perhaps his best chance to put his campaign back on a winning track. Half the state's Democrats are African-American, and many there see in him a capable and confident man who would bring nonwhite perspectives to an American presidency for the first time in history.

Although the Clinton name has broad appeal in black communities, Obama's strong showing in Iowa has persuaded many South Carolina voters to rally to his side, say leaders of several black churches in Charleston.

An average of poll results from South Carolina shows Obama, who trailed Clinton as recently as last month, leading her by 9.6 percentage points.

In Nevada, political supporters of Obama said the relatively close race here shows he remains a potent candidate. State Sen. Steven Horsford, for instance, who campaigned vigorously for Obama, said a win in South Carolina would restore him to front-runner status.

"Obama did exactly what he needed to do here, because he was 20 points down a month ago and made it very close," Horsford said. "People were saying a win here was all but inevitable for Hillary Clinton. But as we've seen in Iowa and New Hampshire, this has turned into a very competitive primary between two front-runners."

Obama now must decide whether to continue with the bruising exchanges that marked his greater willingness to criticize Clinton directly in Nevada, or return to the campaign style that stressed hopeful messages over direct criticism of his opponents.

David Axelrod, Obama's political director, has denied Obama has become more direct in his criticisms after Clinton's comeback win in the Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary.

But on the eve of Nevada's caucus, Axelrod accused the Clinton campaign of distorting Obama's image, and said the Obama campaign would not fail to respond if it feels Clinton attacks unfairly. "What we won't do is what they are doing," Axelrod said. "We won't run ads that attack us for things they know are plainly untrue."