Hackers Punish the Wrong Guy

Anti-Scientology agitators have repeatedly harassed and threatened violence against a 59-year-old PG&E worker and his wife, who were mistakenly flagged as pro-Scientology hackers.

John Lawson, who lives in Stockton, California with his wife Julia, began receiving threatening phone calls around 2 a.m. Saturday morning. He didn't know why until THREAT LEVEL explained that a hacking group calling itself the g00ns (goons spelled with zeros, not goons with the letter o) posted his home address, phone number and cell numbers, as well as Julia's Social Security number, online. The obscene and threatening calls have continued through Tuesday, according to Lawson.

SEE UPDATE AT BOTTOM FOR G00N's RESPONSE

The calls are just one small offshoot of an ongoing, larger attack on the Church of Scientology by a ragtag group of internet troublemakers who call themselves Anonymous. The group says it is targeting Scientology in part for its use of litigation to suppress unflattering documents on the internet.

Over the weekend, the g00ns thought they had caught a hacker who had busted into a server being used to help coordinate the online attacks and real world protests against Scientology. But Lawson says the callers have the wrong guy.

"I don't even really know how to use a computer," Lawson said.

His phone just keeps ringing, Lawson said, and when he answers, callers spout vulgarities and threats and then hang up. On Monday, he got a call that seemed to originate from the Virgin Islands. The caller threatened to kill him.

"They have got the wife really scared because they have my address," Lawson said. "I think I am going to buy me a gun today just in case."

The Stockton police came out on Sunday to take a report, and Lawson has put fraud protection alerts on his and his wife's credit reports.

Lawson wants his personal information off the internet but doesn't know who to talk to to get it down.

The address of the site with their personal information was shared in online chat rooms where members of a group called Anonymous congregate to plan attacks on the Church of Scientology. The site's URL was also submitted to Digg, where it made it to the front page.

Planning for those attacks was disrupted in the last four days by a counter-hack group calling itself the Regime. That group hacked and severely disrupted 711chan.org, one of the central planning facilities for the Anonymous attack.

According to an e-mail from the hacker to THREAT LEVEL, the Regime's "main objective was to obtain logs and various data including user names and passwords" and "to take down our targets in the best way possible to bring as much embarrassment/shame as we could to the offending organization."

The hacker said his group turned over the purloined data to the Church of Scientology.

Soon after, the g00ns claimed to have found out where the Regime was hacking from, and managed to obtain personal information about the Lawsons. John Lawson believes that information came from Comcast, his ISP.

A Digg commenter suggested that the g00ns tracked down an IP address used in the attack on 711chan and traced it to Lawson. If that's the case, the group overlooked the possibility that Lawson's computer or router had been compromised and was used by the real attacker as a proxy that would hide the attacker's real location.

For his part, Lawson doesn't care about the how or why, he just wants the calls to stop.

"I called three news places in Stockton just to get something out there to let them know they have the wrong guy," Lawson said.

This isn't the first time that the anti-Scientologists have hit the wrong target.


Last week, participants downloaded hacking software that accidentally targeted a school in the Netherlands, rather than a Scientology site. That misfire lasted only a few minutes, but its lesson seems not to have been learned by online vigilantes who think their righteous ends justify illegal means.

UPDATE: 10:50 PST Members of g00n tell THREAT LEVEL that they immediately took down the Lawsons' contact info after seeing this story, but emphasize that they had nothing to do with the harassing phone calls and that they have not been involved at all in the Anonymous attacks on Scientology.

They say their motivation for posting the info was to send a warning to the Regime hacker in order to help their friend at 711chan.org, whose website was repeatedly hacked by the Regime.

They also said that the IP address associated with the Lawsons' had been used in attacks on 711chan for four days, and then later was used to access and probe the site where the Lawsons' info was posted. They say they called the Lawsons before posting the info to verify it, and swear that the person they spoke with sounded much younger than a 59 year-old man.

They further contend that 711chan's server logs showed that the IP address was associated with a computer running the Debian flavor of Linux, which casts doubt on the theory that the attacker remotely taken over the Lawson's computer. If that were the case the OS would have been a flavor of Windows. Another possibility is that the Lawsons have a compromised wireless router.

The g00ns say its clear something isn't right in Stockton and vow to figure out who the Regime is, but blame him for leaving a trail that led to the Lawsons, rather than using some sort of proxy or anonymizing tool such as TOR.

They forwarded THREAT LEVEL a transcript of a chat between 711chan's operator and the Regime hacker, which showed the Regime hacker trying to blackmail the 711chan operator into turning over information about the g00ns, by implying that not doing so would make him turn over more information to the Church of Scientology. THREAT LEVEL has no way of verifying that transcript.

More killing in Baghdad : scores killed in Baghdad

source Bbc

More than 70 people have been killed by two bombs in Baghdad, attached to two mentally disabled women and detonated remotely, says a security official.
"The al-Qaeda terrorists and criminals are proud of this method," Brig Qassem Ata al-Moussawi told the BBC.

The death toll in Friday morning's attacks at two animal markets was the highest in months in Baghdad.

Correspondents say a fragile sense of normality had returned to the capital following an influx of US troops.

Security has improved significantly since the US implemented its troop "surge" in the second half of 2007.

A ceasefire announced in August by the Mehdi Army militia of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, as well as the emergence of local Sunni militia armed by the US military that took on al-Qaeda in Iraq, have also contributed to the sense of security.

Figures released by Iraqi ministries on Friday suggested that the number of civilians and security forces killed across Iraq in January - 541 - was the lowest monthly total for nearly two years.

Confidence shattered

But that renewed confidence could be shattered by Friday's deadly bombings, the worst to hit the Iraqi capital since three car bombs killed 80 people last 1 August.

The blasts came shortly before the call to Friday prayers when many Iraqis were out shopping or meeting friends.

The first device was detonated by a female suicide bomber at around 1020 local time (0720GMT) in the popular Ghazil animal market, killing at least 46 people and injuring a further 80.

A popular spectacle for Baghdadis, the animal market only opens on Fridays and regularly draws large crowds, despite having been targeted by bombers twice in 2007.

Just 20 minutes after the first explosion, a second bomb tore through another crowded market in the Jadida area of east Baghdad, killing at least 27 people and injuring 67.

Iraqi security forces spokesman Brig Moussawi told the BBC: "The operation was carried out by two booby-trapped mentally disabled women. [The bombs] were detonated remotely.

"Forensic and bomb squad experts as well as the people and traders of al-Shorja area of the carpet market have confirmed that the woman who was blown-up there today was often in the area and was mentally disabled...

"In the New Baghdad area the shop owners and customers of the pet market confirmed that the woman who was blown-up there was mentally disabled as well."

The US ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, said al-Qaeda had found a "different, deadly" technique.

"There is nothing they won't do if they think it will work in creating carnage and the political fallout that comes from that," he said.

Police and medical officials piled the dead and injured into wheelbarrows, cars and the back of pick-up trucks to be transported to five hospitals across the city.

An official at the capital's Kindi hospital said at least 30 bodies had been received.

"We have a disaster here," he said. "There are too many bodies to count."

Stop Kenya burning, says AU head

African leaders at their summit in Ethiopia have been told they must get involved with the crisis in Kenya.
AU commission chairman Alpha Oumar Konare told them they could not just sit by. "If Kenya burns, there will be nothing for tomorrow," he said.

More than 850 people have died in political and ethnic clashes since last month's elections, which the opposition says were rigged.

In Nairobi, talks between government and opposition have begun.

Mr Konare - the AU's top executive - said it was the AU's duty to support the mediation process which is led by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

'Special responsibility'

The current UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Kenyan leaders to find a peaceful way out.

"President [Mwai] Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga... have a special responsibility to solve the crisis peacefully," he told the summit.

In Kenya itself, just as substantive peace talks began in Nairobi, tension rose in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret when a traffic policeman shot dead an opposition MP - the second to be killed this week.

Kenyan police say the killing was an act of revenge by a jealous boyfriend.

But shops closed as angry protestors marched through the town. Opposition leaders say the shooting was political.

Violence first broke out after the 27 December presidential elections, which the opposition Orange Democratic Movement says Mr Kibaki's government rigged.

Mr Kibaki is among more than 40 leaders present at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, even though the ODM called on the AU not to recognise him.

Mr Odinga, by contrast, has not been invited.

All eyes

The BBC's Will Ross, reporting from the conference, says all eyes will be on Mr Kibaki.

He says Mr Kibaki is likely to brief at least some of the African leaders on events in Kenya, especially the talks between government and opposition.

The Kenyan crisis may then be pushed away, which could be convenient for an organisation which often struggles to tackle the continent's problems with any great urgency, he says.

Despite Mr Konare's plea, the official theme of the AU summit is industrialisation.

But other subjects are likely to include


Sudan, where the AU and the UN have promised to create the world's largest peacekeeping force in Darfur
Somalia, where members are keen to strengthen the small Ugandan and Burundian forces in the country, and
the AU's own internal organisation
Our correspondent says many Africans hope other urgent issues such as Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo will also be tackled.

Giuliani quits White House race

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has pulled out of the Republican race for the White House after disappointing primary results in Florida.
Mr Giuliani announced he was giving his support to Arizona Senator John McCain, describing him as "an American hero".

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California will also endorse Mr McCain.

Earlier on Wednesday, Democrat John Edwards left the race, without backing any of his rivals, after failing to win a single party nomination contest.

Mr Edwards contested Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and his native South Carolina, but only in Iowa did he get higher than third place, and that only by the narrowest of margins.

He told supporters in New Orleans, where he launched his latest White House bid in 2006: "It's time for me to step aside so that history can blaze its path."

Heated debate

Mr Giuliani announced his withdrawal just before the remaining Republican candidates began a televised debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, on Wednesday evening.

With the two other candidates - former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and Texas Congressman Ron Paul - often struggling to be heard, the 90-minute debate was dominated by the verbal jousting of the two front-runners.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney accused Mr McCain of "dirty tricks" for accusing him - just before Tuesday's Florida primary - of supporting a date for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

"It's offensive to me that someone would suggest that I have," said Mr Romney.

Mr Romney said Mr McCain was out of the conservative mainstream, having twice voted against President Bush's tax cuts, which the Republican establishment had embraced.

Mr McCain countered that he was proud of his conservative credentials, and questioned Mr Romney's administrative record in Massachusetts.

"His job creation was the third worst in the country," said the Arizona senator.

The simmering tensions were indicative of the pressure that is building ahead of next week's "Super Tuesday", when 20 states hold their nominating votes in what could be a decisive day in the race for the White House.

Rudy's gamble

In contrast to the heated exchanges in Simi Valley, Mr Giuliani's address was light-hearted.

This man is a national hero and I'm honoured by his friendship

John McCain on Rudy Giuliani

He said he had thought he was the sort of person who had the qualities to make a good president of the United States, "but the voters made a different choice".

"John McCain is the most qualified candidate to be the next commander in chief of the United States," Mr Giuliani said. "He's an American hero and America could use heroes in the White House."

He added that Mr McCain was a longstanding friend and he would campaign alongside him whenever and wherever he was needed.

Mr McCain returned the compliments, praising Mr Giuliani's leadership as mayor in the wake of the attacks on the US on 11 September 2001.

He described his former rival as "my strong right arm and my partner".

"This man is a national hero and I'm honoured by his friendship," he said.

Mr Giuliani was seen by his supporters as a tough commander in chief, while other Republicans were wary of his attitude on social issues, like abortion.

When he entered the race more than a year ago he led some national polls and had an impressive war chest. He is reported to have spent up to a million dollars a week on TV advertising in Florida alone.

Correspondents say his decision to focus his efforts on Florida was always going to be either a stroke of political genius or an unwise gamble that would see him fall at the first hurdle.

Mr Giuliani won 15% of the vote, behind Mr McCain with 36% and Mitt Romney with 31% and just ahead of Mike Huckabee who won 13%.

Mom Blames Bullying For Son's Suicide

She's also critical of teachers, saying boy 'was screaming for help'

The bedroom bears the telltale signs of a typical boy on the cusp of his teen years: discarded food wrappers, video game consoles, clothes scattered on the floor.

The disarray hides tragedy inside the suburban Kansas City home. The room is a memorial to 12-year-old Brandon Myers, who killed himself in February 2007.

For Kim Myers, Brandon's death is the result of what she calls incessant bullying that her son's teachers and other administrators at Voy Spears Elementary School failed to stop

"He was teased in class on the day he died for acting depressed," said Myers, a single parent. "He was screaming for help. If he had got the help he needed, he would still be alive."

Teen suicide has long been considered one of the greatest risks faced by vulnerable adolescents. But an increasing number of mental health experts are warning that younger children such as Brandon are also susceptible.

A nationwide survey of more than 15,000 students in grades six to 10 showed that 30 percent reported experience with bullying — 11 percent as targets, 13 percent as bullies themselves and an additional 6 percent who said they had been both aggressor and victim. The survey was published in 2001.

Nationally, more than 3,000 children ages 10-14 committed suicide from 1995 through 2004, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Missouri, 34 children in that age group took their own lives from 2001 through 2005, state records show.

Many of the details of how Brandon was harassed _ and the school's response _ are incomplete. Myers has hired an attorney and said she plans to sue the Blue Springs School District for her son's wrongful death. She and her ex-husband, Brandon's father, don't want to jeopardize the pending lawsuit by discussing it publicly.

A lawyer for the school district said officials would discuss only Brandon's "educational experience" with The Associated Press, and then only with his parents' permission.

The case is not without precedent. In 2005, a teenager from Tonganoxie, Kansas, who was bullied for years by classmates who believed he was gay was awarded $440,000 in a settlement against his school district. The young man, who said he is not gay, was harassed with homophobic slurs from seventh grade until he quit school his junior year.

Born with cleft palate
The direct effect of bullying on those self-inflicted deaths is impossible to determine. But as in the case of Megan Meier — a 13-year-old suburban St. Louis girl who committed suicide after receiving cruel messages on her MySpace page — the social pressures that drive some children to suicide are immense, said bullying expert Hilda Quiroz.

"Schools are social settings," said Quiroz, a former teacher who now works for the California-based National School Safety Center. "And in social settings, there are kids who wield power."

Bullying victims direct their anger in two directions, Quiroz said: at themselves or toward others, including their tormentors.

"Children sometimes turn inward and hurt themselves, or they turn outward and bring weapons to school," she said.

For Brandon, life didn't come easy. Born with a cleft palate, he endured several corrective surgeries that improved his smile but didn't get rid of a pronounced speech impediment.

His parents divorced when he was five. Diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in the third grade, and later depression, he took a daily chemical cocktail to combat those impulses and regularly saw a counselor outside school.

In the days and weeks leading up to his suicide, Brandon dropped several hints to classmates and teachers that his troubles may have grown life-threatening, Kim Myers said. She didn't learn of those warning signs until it was too late.

The day after Christmas would have been Brandon's 13th birthday. His absence made the holiday a painful one for his older brother and sister and his parents too.

"This is the first year he's not been around," said his father, Randy Myers. "We're struggling."

Down the block from Brandon's house, a solitary plaque marks his shortened life, a tribute to the passion that drove him to awaken in the pre-dawn darkness each morning so he could fish at the neighborhood lake before school.

"Forever Fishing," the plaque reads. "Brandon Myers."

Fishing was an escape for Brandon. He would go fishing with his buddy Trystyn, or with his mother's boyfriend at nearby Lake Lotawana. Summertime meant bullfrog hunting trips with his grandfather

Inside Trystyn Wagner's home, toy frogs of all shapes and sizes surround a hallway display of baseball cards, fishing photos and other reminders of his late best friend.

A few days before Brandon's death, the two friends argued over a girl. They quickly patched up the dispute, but guilt from that encounter and its proximity to Brandon's suicide hangs over Trystyn, his mother said.

"He said he wanted to be next to Brandon," said Amy Wagner, who said she has since moved Trystyn and his younger sister to a private school as a result of what she calls her son's own bullying experience.

"It's just been a nightmare," she said.

Drawing, note were warnings
During an investigation of Brandon's death, Trystyn told police that Brandon drew a picture of himself hanging from a rope. The drawing was found by another student and turned in to a teacher, according to a police incident report.

Another classmate later shared a note from Brandon that further hinted at his risks of suicide.

I "have had enuf of this crap(p)y life," the note reads. "I will hang myself tonight so if you have anything to say to me I suggest you tell me before 4:35 p.m. tonight."

The note, a copy of which was provided to the AP by Kim Myers, asked the unknown classmate to tell other students in Brandon's class and listed the phone numbers for two students he wished to alert.

Kim Myers said she first learned of the warning note in May, nearly three months after Brandon's death, from a Lee's Summit police officer. The note was given to school officials on March 2 by a student's parent.

The unidentified student's mother told police and school officials that she found the note folded on a table in her home two days after Brandon's death, and brought it to school later that week.

Brandon's unkempt bedroom isn't the only reminder Kim Myers carries of his brief life. She wears a frog ring on her right hand, a Mother's Day gift to commemorate her son's amphibious passion.

She keeps a jar of green BB gun pellets in his honor — tiny memorials that have mysteriously turned up in the most unlikely of places, from the doctor's office where she works to the beaches of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where she and her mother traveled to seek peace after Brandon's death.

"As soon as I picked it up the tide came in and washed everything away," she recalled.

"I think it's him talking to me ... letting me know he's around. He's watching over me."

Fighting Spreads In Western Kenya

At least 17 people are reported to have been killed in another day of violence in western Kenya, apparently linked to last month's disputed elections.
The victims are said to have been beaten, hacked or burned to death by mobs as fighting spread to Naivasha.

The town is about 60km (37 miles) south of Nakuru, also the scene of recent inter-ethnic fighting.

Former UN chief Kofi Annan has been holding talks to try to end the month-long political deadlock in Kenya.

He met opposition leader Raila Odinga in the capital, Nairobi, on Sunday, and called on the two rival parties to nominate officials for further talks.

Mr Annan visited the violence-racked Rift Valley on Saturday, and later said he had seen tragic, heart-wrenching scenes, and "gross and systematic abuse of human rights".

Mr Odinga accuses his rival, President Mwai Kibaki, of stealing December's presidential election.

Dozens of people are reported to have been killed in Rift Valley region in the past few days. In all at least 750 people have died since the disputed election, and about a quarter of a million have been made homeless.

Hacked to death

The fighting in Naivasha is thought to have broken out late on Saturday, descending quickly into sickening brutality, says the www.dnewsbreak.blogspot.com's Adam Mynott in Nairobi.

Reports are unclear but at least nine people are said to have been hacked or clubbed to death as they tried to flee mobs with machetes.



In other cases people were locked inside their homes, which the mobs then ignited with petrol. At least eight charred bodies were said to have been recovered.

Police tried to disperse youths blocking the main road by firing over their heads. By Sunday afternoon the town was reported to be much calmer.

The mobs appeared to from the Kikuyu tribe of President Kibaki, which bore the brunt of the violence that erupted after the election.

"We have moved out to revenge the deaths of our brothers and sisters who have been killed, and nothing will stop us," said Anthony Mwangi, hefting a club in Naivasha.

"For every one Kikuyu killed, we shall avenge their killing with three," he told the Associated Press news agency.

Some of those fleeing the violence have taken shelter in some of the horticultural farms around Naivasha, on the main road between Nakuru and Nairobi, our correspondent says.

The area's huge horticulture and flower-growing industry employs more than 20,000 people, and supplies a third of Europe's cut flowers.

Further north, Kenya's fourth biggest city Nakuru has also been the scene of deadly violence between rival Luo and Kikuyu communities.

Clashes erupted on Thursday between fighters armed with machetes, spears and bows and arrows.

There were no reports of further fighting from Nakuru on Sunday. But the ruins of torched buildings smouldered, and a reporter for news agency AFP said bodies lay in the city's deserted slums.

Annan call

Meanwhile, further south in Nairobi, Mr Annan has embarked on a sixth day of talks aimed at mediating a solution to the crisis.

He met Mr Odinga, after meeting Mr Kibaki on Saturday.

On Saturday, he visited Eldoret in the Rift Valley, scene of some of the worst post-election violence took place and spoke to refugees living in camps.
"We saw gross and systematic abuse of human rights, of fellow citizens and it is essential that the facts be established and those responsible held to account," he said.

Fundamental changes, he added, were needed in Kenya to prevent a repetition of inter-ethnic violence.

"We cannot accept that periodically, every five years or so, this sort of incident takes place and no-one is held to account," he said.

African Union chief Alpha Oumar Konare also urged Kenya to seek a political solution to its problems.

Barack Obama Wins

Barack Obama routed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the racially charged South Carolina primary Saturday night, regaining campaign momentum in the prelude to a Feb. 5 coast-to-coast competition for more than 1,600 Democratic National Convention delegates.

The choice in this election is not about regions or religions or genders," Obama said at a boisterous victory rally. "It's not about rich versus poor, young versus old and it's not about black versus white. It's about the past versus the future."

The audience chanted "Race doesn't matter" as it awaited Obama to make his appearance after rolling up 55 percent of the vote in a three-way race.

But it did, in a primary that shattered turnout records.

About half the voters were black, according to polling place interviews, and four out of five of them supported Obama. Black women turned out in particularly large numbers. Obama, the first-term Illinois senator, got about a quarter of the white vote while Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina split the rest.

Clinton flew to Nashville as the polls closed, and looked ahead. "Now the eyes of the country turn to Tennessee and the other states voting on Feb. 5," she said, adding "millions and millions of Americans are going to have their voices heard."

Edwards finished a distant third, a sharp setback in the state where he was born and scored a primary victory in his first presidential campaign four years ago. Even so, he vowed to remain in the race, his goal, he said, to "give voice to all those whose voices aren't being heard."

The victory was Obama's first since he won the kickoff Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3. Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, scored an upset in the New Hampshire primary a few days later. They split the Nevada caucuses, she winning the turnout race, he gaining a one-delegate margin. In an historic race, she hopes to become the first woman to occupy the White House, and Obama is the strongest black contender in history.

The South Carolina primary marked the end of the first phase of the campaign for the Democratic nomination, a series of single-state contests that winnowed the field, conferred co-front-runner status on Clinton and Obama but had relatively few delegates at stake.

That all changes in 10 days' time, when New York, Illinois and California are among the 15 states holding primaries in a virtual nationwide primary. Another seven states and American Samoa will hold Democratic caucuses on the same day.

Obama took a thinly veiled swipe at Clinton in his remarks.

"We are up against conventional thinking that says your ability to lead as president comes from longevity in Washington or proximity to the White House. But we know that real leadership is about candor, and judgment, and the ability to rally Americans from all walks of life around a common purpose — a higher purpose," Obama said.

Looking ahead to Feb. 5, he added that "nearly half the nation will have the chance to join us in saying that we are tired of business-as-usual in Washington, we are hungry for change, and we are ready to believe again."

Nearly complete returns showed Obama winning 55 percent of the vote, Clinton gaining 27 percent. Edwards had 18 percent and won only his home county of Oconee.

Obama also gained 25 convention delegates, Clinton won 12 and Edwards eight.

Overall, Clinton has 249 delegates, followed by Obama with 167 and Edwards with 58.

Obama also gained an endorsement from Caroline Kennedy, who likened the Illinois senator to her late father, President John F. Kennedy.

"I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them," she wrote on The New York Times op-ed page. "But for the first time, I believe I have found a man who could be that president — and not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans."

All three contenders campaigned in South Carolina on primary day, but only Obama and Edwards arranged to speak to supporters after the polls closed. Clinton left for Tennessee as the polls were closing. After playing a muted role in the earlier contests, the issue of race dominated an incendiary week that included a shift in strategy for Obama, a remarkably bitter debate and fresh scrutiny of former President Clinton's role in his wife's campaign.

Each side accused the other of playing the race card, sparking a controversy that frequently involved Bill Clinton.

"They are getting votes, to be sure, because of their race or gender. That's why people tell me Hillary doesn't have a chance of winning here," the former president said at one stop as he campaigned for his wife, strongly suggesting that blacks would not support a white alternative to Obama.

Clinton campaign strategists denied any intentional effort to stir the racial debate. But they said they believe the fallout has had the effect of branding Obama as "the black candidate," a tag that could hurt him outside the South.

Nearly six in 10 voters said the former president's efforts for his wife was important to their choice, and among them, slightly more favored Obama than the former first lady.

Overall, Obama defeated Clinton among both men and women.

The exit polls showed the economy was the most important issue in the race. About one quarter picked health care. And only one in five said it was the war in Iraq, underscoring the extent to which the once-dominant issue has faded in the face of financial concerns.

The exit poll was conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for The Associated Press and the networks.