Senator Barack Obama won the South Carolina primary on Saturday taking 55% of the vote to Senator Hillary Clinton’s 27%. Notably, he picked up a greater proportion of white Democrats’ votes than expected.

The Democratic nomination juggernaut swings into Florida today for the controversial primary there which, like Michigan’s, has been outlawed by the Democratic Party. Floridian Democratic delegates will not be able to take their seats at the party’s national convention as the state party is being penalised for holding its primary before 5 February.

Obama has not campaigned in Florida but Clinton has, and it is widely believed she may challenge the national party’s ruling as commentators predict the race could come down to the delegate count at the Democratic Party’s national convention in August. A candidate needs 2,025 delegates to win the nomination and it is estimated that Obama currently has 63 delegates, whilst Clinton has 48.

Yesterday Obama received a massive boost with the endorsement of Senator Edward Kennedy, the younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who were both assassinated in the 1960s. Flanked by “JFK’s” daughter Caroline and his son Congressman Patrick Kennedy, “Ted” Kennedy declared “I feel change in the air”.  He went on,
“With Barack Obama, we will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion.
“With Barack Obama we will close the book on the old politics of race against race, gender against gender, ethnic group against ethnic group, and straight against gay.”

Comparing Obama to his older brother JFK, Kennedy said,
“There was another time, when another young candidate was running for president and challenging America to cross a new frontier. He faced public criticism from the preceding Democratic president.
“That president, Harry Truman, urged patience. And John Kennedy replied: ‘The world is changing. The old ways will not do. It is time for a new generation of leadership.’ So it is with Barack Obama.
“[Barack Obama] will be a president who refuses to be trapped in the patterns of the past.
“He is a leader who sees the world clearly without being cynical. He is a fighter who cares passionately about the causes he believes in, without demonising those who hold a different view.”

Over 20 states vote in primaries and caucuses next Tuesday in a race that appears to be wide open.  You can watch Edward Kennedy’s endorsement of Obama below.