ATLANTA

When Barack Obama was declared the winner of Georgia's Democratic presidential primary, the Sweet Lowdown restaurant in midtown Atlanta echoed with whoops of glee as dozens of young, Black professionals celebrated his win with raised martini glasses.

In other parts of the city, two civil rights icons had more subdued evenings, watching from separate living rooms as the Illinois senator beat their chosen candidate.

For Andrew Young and Sen. John Lewis, Hillary Rodham resounding defeat in their home state pressed home the fact they now have little company among the Black people whose cause they shouldered as they made names for themselves four decades ago.

In primaries across the country, 8 in 10 Blacks chose Obama over Clinton, according to surveys of voters as they left the polls. In Georgia, it was even more pronounced, with nearly 90 percent of them voting for the man who is seeking to become the nation's first Black president.

Neither man said he regretted his choice. Young, who watched Super Tuesday unfold across his television screen from his tan leather recliner, is a longtime friend of the Clintons and he was hardly pouting.

"It's really good that there's so much excitement around this race," the 75-year-old said. "You seem to have young voters, old voters ... everybody got touched by this election. I say that everybody has finally bought into the dream, Martin Luther King's dream."

King's dream of economic empowerment has become Young's cause in the decades since his friend's death and he said it's one of the reasons he supports the New York senator.

"With me, Hillary was very personal," Young said.

Lewis, the 67-year-old Georgia congressman who nearly lost his life in 1965 on Bloody Sunday in Alabama, said both Obama and Clinton represent the gains of the civil rights movement. "It's just historic," he said.

He endorsed Clinton in October, calling her "the best prepared to lead this country at a time when we are in desperate need of strong leadership." Still, he said this week, it's understandable that Blacks are uniting behind Obama.