UPDATED with results.

While Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has handily won the South Carolina primary contest, the battle was on for second place. 
 
Rival John Edwards, who won the state in 2004 but has yet to come in first in any of the 2008 nominating contests, failed to top Hillary Clinton for the silver medal in the southern state.
 
Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina, was seen as needing to the win to jump-start his campaign.
 
Coming in third would have been a bit embarrassing for Clinton after she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, spent a significant amount of time campaigning in the state and she had momentum from winning the primaries New Hampshire and Nevada. 
 
In Iowa, Obama came in first and she placed third, narrowly trailing Edwards. 

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (Clinton and Edwards at a Martin Luther King, Jr. rally earlier this week.)