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Congressional Black Caucus to endorse Hillary Clinton White House bid

Hillary and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have built strong ties to the African-American community over the past several decades.

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Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton greets the crowd at her primary night party February 9, 2016 at Southern New Hampshire University in Hooksett, New Hampshire.
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US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will receive the endorsement on Thursday of the Congressional Black Caucus, a much-needed boost to her campaign as it competes for the important black voting bloc in South Carolina's primary in February.

The group announced late Wednesday it would endorse Clinton, who with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, has built strong ties to the African-American community over the past several decades. Their backing will be important as Clinton seeks to recover from Tuesday's stinging loss to US Senator Bernie Sanders in the New Hampshire primary.

Black voters make up a large bloc in the Democratic primary in South Carolina and will be increasingly significant to the Democrats as the US presidential contest moves from Iowa and New Hampshire to states more demographically diverse. The Congressional Black Caucus will send a dozen members to South Carolina to campaign for Clinton over the weekend in advance of the state's February 27 Democratic primary, US Representative James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, said on Thursday.

Clyburn, an influential African American lawmaker, declined to make a personal endorsement before the caucus announcement in Washington. Sanders, fresh off his victory in New Hampshire, had breakfast on Wednesday with one of America's most prominent civil rights activists, Al Sharpton, recognising the need to broaden his base to mount a long-term challenge to Clinton.

Clyburn praised Sanders' voting record and said he had no criticism of the US senator from Vermont. But his comments suggested he was leaning toward Clinton, whom he credited with significant contributions to issues important to black Americans, particularly universal access to health care and children's issues.

"People keep forgetting that to get to the universal access to health care ... was a long road," Clyburn said on CNN Thursday. Clinton made an important contribution to that effort, which Clyburn said was hugely important to black Americans and helped lead to the passage of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, known as SCHIP. "People get so caught up in the emotions of a campaign that sometimes they forget that history," Clyburn said.

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