Mon 21 Jan 2008
CHARLESTON, S.C., Jan. 20 — Three months ago, beauty shop owner Shanaya Hammond was a somewhat reluctant supporter of Sen. Barack Obama. A campaign aide persuaded her to put two Obama posters in the window of her Passion Slice salon and she planned to vote for him, but, she allowed, “I won’t be mad if Hillary wins.”
No more. She is all in for Obama now, having been convinced after the senator from Illinois won the Iowa Democratic caucuses that America is ready to vote for a black man for president. “I was like, okay, it’s happening for us,” said Hammond, 32, a single mother of three. “At first, you’re wishing, you’re hoping and praying, and now it’s like, okay, we have a chance. Other people are willing to vote for him.”