On the trail with Michelle Obama

'What are they waiting for?'

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Shermadine McCoy stumbled through the screen door at Fabulous Salon, nearly out of breath. She was at her mother's house, a low-income development across the street from the salon, when a volunteer knocked on the door.

It was 6:40 p.m., and McCoy couldn’t find her voter’s registration card, a document she thought she needed to vote in the primary. When the volunteer told her all she needed was her identification, she flew across the street to consult with Danyelle America.

A Chicago transplant, America is the owner of Fabulous Salon and probably one of Sen. Barack Obama’s greatest supporters in Columbia. There are posters, articles and photographs of the Illinois Democrat and his wife, Michelle, plastered all over the salon walls, and America has worked like a paid staffer to register area residents.

After listening to McCoy, America agreed to drive her to the precinct where she voted in the last election. She had 15 minutes before the polls closed.

“The volunteer wouldn’t give me a ride,” McCoy told America. “I really appreciate this.”

Luckily, the polling place, Hyatt Park Elementary School, was only five minutes away. When the women arrived, several other people were still trying to sort out disputes, and a few more were also rushing through the door.

According to a poll watcher, a record number of people turned out in the predominantly black precinct. “I’m sure they topped 300 voters,” she said.

Meanwhile, McCoy was successful in getting a ballot before the polls officially closed.

“I feel good I got my vote in,” McCoy said during the ride back to the salon.

“If they hadn't come and knocked on the door, I wouldn’t have known I could vote. That’s why I hustled across the street and came to you,” she told America.

Her comments gave America a much-needed lift. Despite the early polls that predicted Obama a winner, America was worried about people like Leo Clinton, a 53-year-old black man who was in the shop earlier and admitted he had cast his ballot for Sen. Hillary Clinton.

“Why?” America asked.

When Clinton told her he thought his family might be related to the Clintons because his people came from Arkansas, I thought America was going to throw the man out of her shop.

“It’s that kind of ignorance that has black people in South Carolina in bad shape,” America said.

By 6 p.m., Chicago time, CNN was predicting Obama a winner with fewer than 10 percent of the precincts reporting.

“I feel good, but I want to wait until the last minute. I’m still scared a little bit,” America said.

Obama's victory gives America “courage” and “hope,” she said.

“We still got a long way to go; we got the rest of the year to fight this fight,” she said.

“I think this will give a lot of more people hope to get on board because a lot of people will jump on the bandwagon after the train has taken off.”