Will black voters give Hillary Clinton a second chance …

Story highlights Hillary Clinton will be in South Carolina for the first time since she announced 2016 campaign Clinton was damaged after a racially charged South Carolina battle against Obama in 2008

Rita Outen remembers everything that happened here the last time Clinton made her case for the presidency, slogging through a bitter and racially charged primary contest against Barack Obama in 2008.

Standing in the aisle of Reid Chapel A.M.E. church one recent afternoon, the retired nurse ticked off the lowlights: the "Jesse Jackson thing," when Bill Clinton seemed to dismiss Obama's victory in the state by noting the reverend won South Carolina twice without making it to the White House. And the time when Hillary Clinton accused Obama of working closely with a slumlord.

"There was also that fairy tale comment," Outen said, recalling yet another Bill Clinton gaffe from the campaign that was interpreted as an effort to diminish the man who would become the first African-American president.

Obama routed Clinton 55% to 27% in the 2008 primary, when she won just one of South Carolina's 46 counties -- a drubbing that sparked shouting matches between old friends and fears of a permanently fractured party. It left many African-Americans feeling disenchanted about the Clintons, a political couple adored by many minorities during their years in the White House.

The Southern test for Clinton now centers on whether she can move past the wounds of that campaign. In the past few months, Clinton's team has moved aggressively -- if quietly at times -- to heal lingering damage from 2008 and solidify black support in early states and among prominent African-Americans.

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For now, Clinton is enjoying some goodwill. Outen, for instance, voted for Obama in 2008 and despite what she called the "nastiness" of that race, she now says she's a Hillary Clinton supporter.

"When you run for political office, everybody makes statements you shouldn't make and some of the statements back then were derogatory," recalled Outen. "At first, my support was a little wavering, but you get over it. She now has a chance to redeem herself."

Shortly after Clinton lost in 2008, Rep. Jim Clyburn got an angry phone call from Bill Clinton, who blamed him for the defeat in part because he didn't endorse the former first lady. Seven years later, tensions have calmed and the divisions that were feared haven't come to pass, Clyburn said.

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Will black voters give Hillary Clinton a second chance ...

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