Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton looked today toward the next battles in a bruising White House race after Mr Obama scored a landslide win in a South Carolina primary tinged by the issue of race.

"I think (the result) speaks extraordinarily well, not just for folks in the South, but all across the country," said Mr Obama, an Illinois senator who would be the first black US president.

"I think people want change. I think they want to get beyond some of the racial politics that, you know, has been so dominant in the past," Mr Obama told ABC's "This Week."

Ms Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, drew criticism for comments seen by some as minimising the role of blacks in the 1960s civil rights movement and the import of Mr Obama's success in a state with a large black population.

The Clintons have long enjoyed support in the black community, and the former first lady predicted Democrats would unite around whoever wins its nomination for the November election to "to take back the White House." Republican President George W. Bush's second term ends next January.

"It is part of voters' rights to know how we respond to what one another has done and said, and I think that's part of our vigorous election," she told CBS's "Face the Nation."

Mr Obama's South Carolina win, after two consecutive losses to Ms Clinton in New Hampshire and Nevada, gave him new momentum heading into February 5 "Super Tuesday" Democratic contests in 22 states. Mr Obama won the first contest in Iowa.