Update:  NBC calls it for Obama.

A heads up: I'll be on with the Young Turks and Brave New Films primary election coverage around 6:45-ish pm ET this evening. They'll be doing live coverage throughout the evening, with a lot of familiar folks coming on to talk politics and primary season. So tune in!

Shaila Dewan (whose reporting I generally love) had a glimpse of economic disparities along the racial divide in South Carolina today that is worth discussing at length. She focuses on a town called Orangeburg -- Mr. ReddHedd and I always joke that all roads in SC lead to Orangeburg because, truly, they all seem to do just that when we are driving down that way. And this struck me in her piece:

“My cousin works at McDonald’s,” she said. “She said some people like working there because they get benefits. That’s what they go for now.”

Because Orangeburg is a blue county in a red state, it has been visited by all the Democratic candidates, some more than once. Health care, gasoline prices and trade imbalances are all pocketbook issues here....

Gilda Cobb-Hunter, a state legislator who represents part of Orangeburg County, said some of the unemployment among blacks stemmed from poor education by the state’s money-starved rural schools. The school system was recently portrayed in a documentary about education along Interstate 95 called “Corridor of Shame,” a phrase Mr. Obama used in the debate in Myrtle Beach on Monday.

“The issue is education and the effect of a lack of a quality education on the level playing field,” Ms. Cobb-Hunter said.

I'm hearing so much economic uncertainty and fears across the economic divide -- and from readers everywhere across the country. Much more than concerns about any other issue at the moment, and I'm wondering if this election cycle is going to sustain an "it's the economy again, stupid" line of electoral questions all the way through -- or whether this is a temporary outgrowth of market/housing volatility. Somehow, I think the questions are going to keep on coming for quite a while. Anyone else sensing that "kitchen table" pocketbook politics is going to be key this year?

Any doubts that the media is enjoying stoking the race versus gender questions? Read on. Jeffrey Feldman has a thought-provoking piece on indentity politics worth your time today, which makes an excellent riposte.

And the WaPo finally highlights something that we've talked about several times: the vast disparity in coverage of the Edwards campaign with the Clinton and Obama campaigns. (Huge thank you, btw, to the Edwards campaign for standing up for the rule of law yet again.) Meanwhile, Jamison Foser has a few choice thoughts for "horse race" analysis (Mark Halperin, meet your petard.)

The South Carolina primary is still going -- votes are being cast, and the polls seemed to be tightening up over the last few days since the last debate. Any guesses on results? And, even more important, what do you think are the biggest issues for Americans going forward? And can we have more discussions on those instead of fluff and nonsense? What do you think?

(YouTube: One of my favorite James Taylor songs -- Carolina In My Mind.)