Obama wins North Carolina; Clinton gains slim victory in Indiana

RALEIGH, N.C. — Barack Obama increased his delegate lead and took a significant step toward the Democratic presidential nomination on Tuesday by winning big in North Carolina but Hillary Clinton appeared headed toward a narrow win in Indiana.

"You know there were those who were saying North Carolina would be a game-changer in this election," Obama told cheering supporters in Raleigh. "But today what North Carolina decided is that the only game that needs changing is the one in Washington, D.C."

He conceded that he appeared headed for defeat in Indiana — where Clinton led 52 percent to 48 percent with 87 percent of precincts counted — but he classified his North Carolina win as a "a victory in a big state, in a swing state and a state where we will compete to win if I am the Democratic nominee."

Obama declared himself "less than 200 delegates" from the nomination and talked like a winner ready to unite his party. With 95 percent of precincts counted in North Carolina, he led 57 percent to 43 percent for Clinton.

"Tonight, many of the pundits have suggested that this party is inalterably divided - that Senator Clinton's supporters will not support me, and that my supporters will not support her," he said. "Well I'm here tonight to tell you that I don't believe it."

"Yes, there have been bruised feelings on both sides. Yes, each side desperately wants their candidate to win," Obama said, adding, "This primary season may not be over, but when it is, we will have to remember who we are as Democrats . . . and that we are at our best when we lead with principle; when we lead with conviction; when we summon an entire nation around a common purpose, a higher purpose."

Clinton, at a rally in Indianapolis, claimed victory even though news organizations still regarded Indiana as too close to call.

Noting how Obama had once predicted Indiana would be "the tie-breaker" after her earlier victory in Pennsylvania and his in North Carolina, she said, "Tonight we've come from behind, we've broken the tie and thanks to you it is full speed on to the White House."

Clinton showed no sign of stepping aside and letting Obama claim the party's nomination. Instead, she continued to make the argument that she, not Obama, would be "the champion" of working families.

"It's so close," she said. But she also struck a note of conciliation, saying, "I will work for the Democratic nominee."

She also vowed to continue to push for the seating of delegates from Florida and Michigan, barred because the states' primaries violated the party rules. "It would be a little strange having a nominee chosen by 48 states," she said.

Anthony Corrado Jr., an expert in delegate selection, acknowledged Tuesday's split decision but noted, "What's great is we are running out of states so it eventually has to end."

And, he said, Clinton is running out of time.

"She is really at a point now where just winning states and picking up a few delegates isn't the progress she needs," said Corrado, a government professor at Maine's Colby College. "The clock is running out here. The biggest problem she faces right now is it is very hard to catch up when one candidate has moved 100 or so delegates ahead."

In a contest where expectations play a major role, Clinton could suffer from being the favorite in several of the remaining races.

"She has to go someplace where Obama is expected to win and beat him to have any chance of making a case," Corrado said.

North Carolina was one of those places, and it didn't happen for Clinton. Her next shot of beating Obama in a state in which he is favored could be Oregon on May 20, according to Corrado.

What remains are states — and Puerto Rico — with too few delegates to give either candidate the 2,025 needed for nomination. That would leave the race in the hands of the superdelegates. Also to be factored in will be what to do about Michigan and Florida, states that were penalized for holding early primaries.

Before Tuesday's contests, Obama had 1,745.5 delegates and Clinton had 1,608. It takes 2,025 to clinch the nomination. Neither candidate can reach that goal without support from the superdelegates unbound by primary and caucus results. So far, Clinton has support from 269.5 superdelegates, compared to 255 for Obama, who has closed that gap in recent weeks.

North Carolina had 115 delegates at stake, parceled out proportionately based on statewide and congressional district results. Indiana had 72 delegates to award on a similar basis.

Next Tuesday, West Virginia votes, followed by Oregon and Kentucky on May 20. Voting ends with in Puerto Rico on June 1 and Montana and South Dakota on June 3.

Corrado cautioned against looking for those contests to provide any clarity.

"The process is not geared to providing a definitive winner when you have two fairly evenly matched candidates, which is just what is happening this year," he said, adding that the status quo favors Obama as the end of primary season draws nearer.

On Tuesday, with record voter turnouts in both states, the economy was top issue, one Clinton highlighted by calling for suspension of the federal gasoline tax to help consumers deal with the skyrocketing cost of driving. Obama chided the proposal as politically driven, drop-in-the-bucket nonsense that would do little to help Americans struggling through a sagging economy.

About two-thirds of the voters in both states said the economy is the most important issue, the largest percentage yet to say so since the Democratic presidential voting began in Jan. 3 in wintry Iowa.

"When you peel back these numbers, it's white middle-class voters," said Lisa Caputo, a senior adviser to Clinton's campaign.

And for Democrats, the ability to attract white voters could be the difference between winning and losing in November.

In 2000 and 2004, Democratic nominees Al Gore and John Kerry won about 40 percent of the white vote as each lost to George W. Bush (though Gore prevailed in the 2000 popular vote), who took 54 percent of the white vote in 2000 and 58 percent against Kerry in 2004.

In Indiana, two-thirds of working-class white voters backed Clinton, who is arguing to the party's superdelegates that her popularity with this pivotal group will make her the stronger candidate in the general election against John McCain, the likely GOP nominee who won both Republican primaries on Tuesday.

McCain on Tuesday continued to concentrate on Obama as his probable November foe, noting that Obama voted against the confirmation of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

"Senator Obama in particular likes to talk up his background as a lecturer on law, and also as someone who can work across the aisle to get things done,'' McCain said in Winston-Salem. "But . . . he went right along with the partisan crowd, and was among the 22 senators to vote against this highly qualified nominee."

McCain ignored the fact that Clinton also voted against Roberts.

Obama aides responded by saying McCain would appoint jurists who oppose abortion rights and laws - sponsored by McCain - limiting money in campaigns.

Obama's expected win in North Carolina was crucial, coming two weeks after Clinton took a 10-point Pennsylvania win that kept her candidacy afloat.

The win was decisive enough to allow The Associated Press and the television networks to declare it a few minutes after the polls closed. It was so early that the doors had not yet opened to allow Obama supporters into the North Carolina State University coliseum where his rally was held.

A few supporters already in the building as workers clapped as the announcement came over a big-screen TV. Others were left to wonder what the clapping was about.

"Yes, we can," a few chanted, reprising the campaign motto.

"Yes, we did," said others, referring to the result.

Kerry Haynie, a Duke University political scientist, said Obama's North Carolina win was impressive "and stopped the blood he has been bleeding for awhile."

Exit polls in North Carolina showed the breadth of Obama's win as he prevailed in many demographic groups in an electorate that was one-third black. Ninety-one percent of the black voters backed Obama. Fifty-nine percent of whites went for Clinton.

Haynie said Obama's failure to carry white voters remains a concern as superdelegates shop for a November candidate.

It was a day that extended trends that have held for months, with Obama winning a significantly black southern state and Clinton prevailing in a heavily white midwestern state.

Clinton took 54 percent of the while male vote in North Carolina, but Obama's 40 percent showing in that category was solid for a candidate trying to show the party that he can carry that segment in November.

Obama took only 38 percent of the white vote in Pennsylvania. Exit polls taken in 30 contests so far showed Obama carrying the white vote in only seven, including his home state of Illinois.

The race issue returned to the forefront of the contest last week when the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's former pastor in Chicago, reiterated incendiary remarks he had made in past sermons. Obama responded by denouncing Wright, who he previously had supported.

Half the North Carolina voters said the Wright situation was important to their vote. Half said it wasn't. Almost six in 10 who said it was important voted for Clinton. Almost seven in 10 of those who said it wasn't important backed Obama.

In Indiana, 46 percent said the Wright situation was important, and 72 percent of them backed Clinton. Among the 51 percent who said it was not important, 67 percent voted for Obama.

In Indiana, it was the first election since the Supreme Court's refusal to strike down the state's controversial photo identification law. Experts had feared confusion at the polls, and there was one incident in which 12 nuns were turned away from a polling place because they didn't have state or federal identification bearing a photograph. The incident occurred in South Bend, across the street from the University of Notre Dame.