By Arian Campo-Flores
NEWSWEEK

It was a telling scene. At the boisterous caucus at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas more than a week ago, supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama gathered on opposite sides of a cavernous ballroom. Each side cheered its candidate, jabbed placards in the air and taunted the opposition. In the no-man's land between them, a few zealous voters screamed in each other's faces and tore up rival signs, ripping them from each other's hands. But what was most striking was the racial grouping of those gathered. Nearly all of Obama's supporters were black, while nearly all of Clinton's were Hispanic (to the side stood a tiny gaggle of white Edwards backers). Similar splits occurred across Nevada that day; in the end, Obama carried the black vote with 83 percent, while Clinton won the Latino vote with 64 percent.

As the Democratic nominating contest barrels toward Feb. 5, that stark racial divide appears to be hardening. Clinton's support among Latino voters has always been stronger than Obama's, and until recently she was also leading among African-Americans. Since Obama's victory in Iowa, however, blacks have coalesced behind him, perhaps realizing his candidacy is viable. The trend could have big implications on Super Tuesday, when minority-rich states like California, New York and New Jersey vote. Polling shows that Obama leads among black voters by roughly 2-1 in some of these states, while Clinton leads among Hispanics by as much as 3-1. In the face of that split, many commentators have dwelled on racial tension between the two groups. But in reality, the divide has more to do with the candidates' inherent appeal and the effectiveness of their outreach.

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