In their February 4 debate at the University of New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders jostled to get to each other’s left, fighting for the socialist hearts of progressive voters in an all-white New England state. It was a battle Clinton could not win.

But in their debate Thursday night, things were different. The focus of the Democratic primary election has moved to South Carolina, where black voters may cast the majority of the votes up for grabs. They are not insistent on left-liberal purity, but display a near lock-step loyalty to President Obama, whom they feel he has been badly treated as the first black president.