North Carolina voters boosted the potential nomination of Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Tuesday. The Illinois senator reeled in a 14-percentage-point, 230,000-vote margin of victory over Sen. Hillary Clinton and more importantly, the larger share of the state's 134 delegates.

To many observers, the size of Obama's victory Tuesday put an end to the Democratic Party's presidential primary drama. But we'd urge voters to let the process run its full course.

Obama was clearly aware Tuesday night of the significance of his North Carolina primary victory. In his post-primary address in Raleigh, Obama focused mostly on the larger race in November, and the goal of keeping Republican presidential contender John McCain out of the White House. That posturing wasn't lost on political observers and pollsters, who think Obama is headed toward the party's nomination at the convention in August. Additionally, some supporters and party insiders have suggested that Clinton should concede the primary race and work toward bringing the party together behind a single candidate focused on winning the White House.

Party unity will be a priority for the Democrats when the race is over. But many aren't convinced that it is over. Chief among them is Clinton herself who, despite losing North Carolina, did take a victory on Tuesday in the Indiana primary. Clinton also boosted her own campaign last week with a personal loan of $6.4 million. She is pressing on, wooing voters in West Virginia, Kentucky and other states where upcoming primaries are scheduled in the next several weeks.

We feel the odds are against Clinton overtaking Obama's delegate lead. As it now stands, Obama has close to a 150-delegate lead over Clinton. To gain the nomination in the primaries, one of them must get 2,025 delegate votes. Yet, neither Obama nor Clinton can reach that total in the remaining primaries. Hence, the race could eventually be decided by the Democratic Party leadership, and the apportionment of the so-called superdelegates. At this point, the favored candidate to get the party's nod is Obama.

Nevertheless, Clinton's decision to stay the course is, in our view, the right one. It's right because it's right for the voters.To the benefit of both candidates, many new voters are going to the polls. More than 30 million people have voted in the Democratic primary so far. Of the total votes cast, Obama has received almost 16 million votes or 49.6 percent to Clinton's roughly 15.2 million votes or 47.3 percent. It's still a very close race — and there are primaries to be held. Much can still happen in this race. It would be unfair to all voters, we believe, to shut down what has been a long, but vigorous political process inches before the finish line.

Additionally, it would be hypocritical of the Obama campaign to make a case for Clinton to concede on behalf of party unity before hearing from the other states. Obama himself has focused his campaign on listening to and doing what is in the interest of individual voters and citizens rather than what is in the interest of Washington and politics as usual.

Similarly, Clinton is aware of the tide of Obama's political lead pushing against her. It would be ignoble of her and damaging to her party to take the low road of off-issue personal attacks aimed at derailing Obama.

The two candidates, however, should continue to mix it up on the last few stops along the primary campaign trail. Both should be talking or debating the issues, presenting their platforms and pointing out their differences to voters. That's good politics, and good politics is good for the voters.

Let the campaign roll on.