The Campaign Trail 2016: The Democrats in South Carolina

And now South Carolina, and the first four contests of the Democratic presidential nomination process, is over. The Palmetto State has spoken and former Senator Hillary Clinton is the victor. Not only is she the victor but she is the victor in a landslide. Clinton desperately needed this landslide going into Super Tuesday.

Senator Bernie Sanders has now had his first major loss of the Democratic primary cycle only gaining 26 percent of the vote. This loss isn't the end of the road for Sanders but he has to have a far better showing on Super Tuesday or his campaign may wither and die. Sanders did not need a loss this bad going into Super Tuesday.

Sanders didn't manage to even win any singular county within South Carolina. While one major loss doesn't kill a campaign – Clinton rebounded after her heavy loss in New Hampshire – South Carolina has given Sanders some important information going forward. He is having trouble resonating with black voters. If Sanders can't find a way to remedy this issue fast, his chances of becoming the Democratic nominee become slim.

Willie Wilson, appearing on his first ballot of the Democratic presidential nomination cycle, received under 0.7 percent of the vote. As of the time of writing, Wilson is appearing on a total of eleven ballots in the Democratic primaries, including Illinois and Mississippi. “

“Dr. Wilson is only on 11 ballots so far because he didn't provide enough signatures for certain states to qualify,” Anneliese Peper, public relations and social media manager for Wilson's campaign, said.

The eleven ballots, if Wilson won all eleven states, wouldn't be enough to gain the Democratic nomination and South Carolina was a bad state for Wilson's first appearance. Wilson's platform is closest to that of Sanders and where Sanders was not expected to do well at all – and didn't do well at all – it would be very unlikely for the far lesser heard of Wilson to gain any significant percentage of the vote in the state.

Return on February 29^th for the pre-Super Tuesday coverage for both parties.