Hillary Clinton cruised to a commanding victory over Bernie Sanders in Saturday's South Carolina primary, drawing overwhelming support from the state's black Democrats and putting her in a strong position as the race barrels toward crucial multi-state contests on Tuesday.

Clinton's win provided an important boost for her campaign '€” and a moment to wipe away bitter memories of her loss to Barack Obama in the South Carolina primary eight years ago.

"To South Carolina, to the volunteers at the heart of our campaign, to the supporters who power it: thank you," Clinton wrote on Twitter. At a campaign victory party in Columbia, supporters broke into raucous cheers as the race was called in Clinton's favor.

Sanders, expecting defeat on Saturday, left the state even before voting was finished and turned his attention to some of the states that vote in next Tuesday's delegate-rich contests. In a statement, Sanders vowed to fight on aggressively.

"This campaign is just beginning," he said. "Our grass-roots political revolution is growing state by state, and we won't stop now."

Black voters powered Clinton to victory, with 8 in 10 voting for her. The former secretary of state also won most women and voters aged 30 and older, according to early exit polls.

Clinton's victory came at the end of a day that saw Republican candidates firing insults at each other at rallies in states voting on March 1, or Super Tuesday. Donald Trump, working to build an insurmountable lead, was campaigning in Arkansas with former rival New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and calling Florida Sen. Marco Rubio a "light little nothing." Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was asking parents in Atlanta if they would be pleased if their children spouted profanities like the brash billionaire. And Rubio was mocking Trump as a "con artist" with "the worst spray tan in America."

Clinton made a stop in Alabama, a Super Tuesday state, on Saturday before returning to Columbia, South Carolina's capital, for an evening victory party.

Sanders, expecting defeat on Saturday, left South Carolina even before voting finished and turned his attention to some of the states that vote in next Tuesday's delegate-rich contests. He drew 10,000 people to a rally in Austin, a liberal bastion in conservative Texas, the biggest March 1 prize.

While Sanders spent the end of the week outside of South Carolina, his campaign did invest heavily in the state. He had 200 paid staff on the ground and an aggressive television advertising campaign.

Sanders has energized young people and liberals with his impassioned calls for breaking up Wall Street banks and making tuition free at public colleges and universities. But the senator from Vermont, a state where about 1 percent of the population is black, lacks Clinton's deep ties to the African-American community.

Exit polls showed 6 in 10 voters in Saturday's South Carolina primary were black. About 7 in 10 said they wanted the next president to continue Obama's policies, and only about 20 percent wanted a more liberal course of action, according to exit polls conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and television networks.

Clinton's sweeping victory suggested South Carolina voters had put aside any lingering tensions from her heated 2008 contest with Obama. Former President Bill Clinton made statements during that campaign that were seen by some as questioning the legitimacy of the black presidential contender.

This time around, Bill Clinton was well-received as he traveled the state on her behalf. She focused on issues with particular resonance in the black community, including gun violence, and held an emotional event with black mothers whose children died in shootings.

Clinton's second White House bid lurched to an uneven start, with a narrow victory over Sanders in Iowa and a crushing loss to the senator in New Hampshire. She pulled off a 5-point win over Sanders in last week's Nevada caucuses, a crucial victory that helped stem Sanders' momentum.

Clinton's campaign hopes her strong showing in South Carolina foreshadows similar outcomes in states like Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Virginia that vote Tuesday and have large minority populations.

Taken together, 865 Democratic delegates are up for grabs in the Super Tuesday contests in 11 states and American Samoa.

Because Democrats apportion delegates proportionally, Sanders is simply hoping to stay close to Clinton in the South. But he's focusing most of his attention on states in the Midwest and Northeast, including his home state of Vermont.

On the Republican side, voters will cast ballots in 11 states, with 595 delegates at stake on Super Tuesday. (rin)

Associated Press writer Catherine Lucey in Austin, Texas, and Ken Thomas in Washington contributed to this report.

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