By Sean Mussenden
Media General News Service
Media General News Service
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RALEIGH, N.C.- In the end, it wasn't close.
North Carolina voters handed Barack Obama a decisive, double-digit victory over Hillary Clinton in Tuesday's primary, strengthening his bid for the Democratic nomination.
"Tonight we stand less than 200 delegates away from winning the Democratic nomination for president of the United States," Obama said at a victory rally in Raleigh.
With 92 out of 100 counties reporting, Obama led Clinton 56 to 42 percent.
Hillary Clinton narrowly won Indiana and vowed to keep her campaign going.
"Thanks to you, it's full speed on to the White House," she said at a victory rally.
Voters turned out in record numbers for North Carolina's first important presidential primary in recent memory. Nearly two million of the state's 5.8 million registered voters participated, believed to be a modern day record.
A month ago, North Carolina's primary was shaping up to be a dull affair, with Obama sporting leads in the high teens in late March polls. By the last day, though, it had been transformed into one of the most hard-fought battlegrounds in the long Democratic contest.
Polls taken last weekend showed Clinton had whittled down Obama's lead to under five points by going after white working-class voters in rural areas with a populist economic message. Obama's support among those voters also took a hit following the re-emergence of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, as an issue in the campaign in late April.
Exit polls showed that half of voters in North Carolina considered the Wright issue important. But for Obama, it did not prove fatal.
Clinton spent the last week stressing populist economic themes in a bid to attract support from white blue-collar workers, and they provided one of the few bright spots of the night for her in North Carolina.
Steve Karapetian, 55, a white construction worker from Clemmons, voted for Clinton because he felt she had the experience and toughness to turn the country's economy around.
"We are in dire straits," Karapetian said. "Hillary is the only one with a realistic vision of how things work, the only one with a glimmer of hope of stabilizing this country."
She also did better than Obama with older and middle-aged white women like Diane Gandee, of Lewisville. She was a supporter of former President Bill Clinton, and hoped his wife would mark a return of sorts of his presidency.
"We had them once and it wasn't too shabby," Gandee said. "He (Bill Clinton) might have had some problems but economically-speaking times were good, things were booming and we didn't have pay outrageous prices for gas and milk."
But Obama's support with three key demographic groups helped provide him more than enough lift to deal Clinton a painful setback.
He attracted overwhelming support from college educated whites, young voters and from black voters like Kenneth Eaton of Winston-Salem. Nine out of ten African-Americans cast a ballot for Obama.
Eaton never thought he'd see a black candidate as the leading contender for the Democratic nomination. At 54, he cast the first vote of his life for Obama, but he had more than history on his mind.
"Gas prices are up, poverty is up and we need somebody to take care of our people here in the U. S.," Eaton said.
As the Democratic primary season nears an end, Tuesday's contests offered the largest remaining cache of delegates.
There were 72 delegates at stake in Indiana and 115 in North Carolina. According to the Associated Press, Obama won a combined 55 last night and Clinton won 46 with 86 still up for grabs. As of Tuesday night, an Associated Press tally of both pledged delegates and committed superdelegates had Obama ahead 1,800 to Clinton's 1,654.
The delegates allocated after Tuesday's primaries were not expected to significantly affect the delegate lead Obama holds over Clinton. Nor are the outcomes of the remaining six contests. West Virginia comes next, followed by Oregon, Kentucky, Puerto Rico, Montana and, finally, South Dakota on June 3.
Obama is likely to finish the race with more pledged delegates than Clinton, but not enough to meet the 2,025 delegate threshold by the time the last primary wraps up in June.
Because of that, the party's superdelegates will determine which candidate goes on to face Republican John McCain in the fall.
So, the true importance of the North Carolina and Indiana primaries will become apparent over the next few days, as the results are dissected and debated in an effort to influence the remaining undeclared superdelegates.
There are more uncommitted superdelegates up for grabs - 270, according to an AP tally - than there are pledged delegates in the remaining states.
On Tuesday night, both candidates used their nationally televised primary-night speeches to put their own spin on their victories and defeats for the benefit of the superdelegates.
Obama used his victory in North Carolina to show that he could win large states that could be competitive in the general election after losses in key swing states like Pennsylvania and Ohio.
"I want to thank them for giving us a victory in a big state, in a swing state, in a state where we will compete to win if I am the Democratic nominee," he said.
Clinton, meanwhile, used the Indiana lead to argue that she is the preferred candidate working-class white voters that could prove important in the general election.
And she made clear that she will continue to fight on.
"It would seem a little strange to have a nominee elected by only 48 states," she said. "We've got a long road ahead."
Republican voters also went to the polls to vote for presidential candidates in North Carolina, though the outcome was never in doubt.
In that sense, it was more reminiscent of previous presidential primaries for both parties, when North Carolina voters had little say in choosing a nominee.
With 79 percent of the precincts reporting, Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, led with 74 percent of the vote. Mike Huckabee trailed with 12 percent, followed by Ron Paul with 7 percent, and Alan Keyes with 3 percent. Four percent of Republican voters had no preference.
Mary Giunca, Danielle Deaver and Jim Sparks of the Winston-Salem Journal contributed to this report.
North Carolina voters handed Barack Obama a decisive, double-digit victory over Hillary Clinton in Tuesday's primary, strengthening his bid for the Democratic nomination.
"Tonight we stand less than 200 delegates away from winning the Democratic nomination for president of the United States," Obama said at a victory rally in Raleigh.
With 92 out of 100 counties reporting, Obama led Clinton 56 to 42 percent.
Hillary Clinton narrowly won Indiana and vowed to keep her campaign going.
"Thanks to you, it's full speed on to the White House," she said at a victory rally.
Voters turned out in record numbers for North Carolina's first important presidential primary in recent memory. Nearly two million of the state's 5.8 million registered voters participated, believed to be a modern day record.
A month ago, North Carolina's primary was shaping up to be a dull affair, with Obama sporting leads in the high teens in late March polls. By the last day, though, it had been transformed into one of the most hard-fought battlegrounds in the long Democratic contest.
Polls taken last weekend showed Clinton had whittled down Obama's lead to under five points by going after white working-class voters in rural areas with a populist economic message. Obama's support among those voters also took a hit following the re-emergence of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, as an issue in the campaign in late April.
Exit polls showed that half of voters in North Carolina considered the Wright issue important. But for Obama, it did not prove fatal.
Clinton spent the last week stressing populist economic themes in a bid to attract support from white blue-collar workers, and they provided one of the few bright spots of the night for her in North Carolina.
Steve Karapetian, 55, a white construction worker from Clemmons, voted for Clinton because he felt she had the experience and toughness to turn the country's economy around.
"We are in dire straits," Karapetian said. "Hillary is the only one with a realistic vision of how things work, the only one with a glimmer of hope of stabilizing this country."
She also did better than Obama with older and middle-aged white women like Diane Gandee, of Lewisville. She was a supporter of former President Bill Clinton, and hoped his wife would mark a return of sorts of his presidency.
"We had them once and it wasn't too shabby," Gandee said. "He (Bill Clinton) might have had some problems but economically-speaking times were good, things were booming and we didn't have pay outrageous prices for gas and milk."
But Obama's support with three key demographic groups helped provide him more than enough lift to deal Clinton a painful setback.
He attracted overwhelming support from college educated whites, young voters and from black voters like Kenneth Eaton of Winston-Salem. Nine out of ten African-Americans cast a ballot for Obama.
Eaton never thought he'd see a black candidate as the leading contender for the Democratic nomination. At 54, he cast the first vote of his life for Obama, but he had more than history on his mind.
"Gas prices are up, poverty is up and we need somebody to take care of our people here in the U. S.," Eaton said.
As the Democratic primary season nears an end, Tuesday's contests offered the largest remaining cache of delegates.
There were 72 delegates at stake in Indiana and 115 in North Carolina. According to the Associated Press, Obama won a combined 55 last night and Clinton won 46 with 86 still up for grabs. As of Tuesday night, an Associated Press tally of both pledged delegates and committed superdelegates had Obama ahead 1,800 to Clinton's 1,654.
The delegates allocated after Tuesday's primaries were not expected to significantly affect the delegate lead Obama holds over Clinton. Nor are the outcomes of the remaining six contests. West Virginia comes next, followed by Oregon, Kentucky, Puerto Rico, Montana and, finally, South Dakota on June 3.
Obama is likely to finish the race with more pledged delegates than Clinton, but not enough to meet the 2,025 delegate threshold by the time the last primary wraps up in June.
Because of that, the party's superdelegates will determine which candidate goes on to face Republican John McCain in the fall.
So, the true importance of the North Carolina and Indiana primaries will become apparent over the next few days, as the results are dissected and debated in an effort to influence the remaining undeclared superdelegates.
There are more uncommitted superdelegates up for grabs - 270, according to an AP tally - than there are pledged delegates in the remaining states.
On Tuesday night, both candidates used their nationally televised primary-night speeches to put their own spin on their victories and defeats for the benefit of the superdelegates.
Obama used his victory in North Carolina to show that he could win large states that could be competitive in the general election after losses in key swing states like Pennsylvania and Ohio.
"I want to thank them for giving us a victory in a big state, in a swing state, in a state where we will compete to win if I am the Democratic nominee," he said.
Clinton, meanwhile, used the Indiana lead to argue that she is the preferred candidate working-class white voters that could prove important in the general election.
And she made clear that she will continue to fight on.
"It would seem a little strange to have a nominee elected by only 48 states," she said. "We've got a long road ahead."
Republican voters also went to the polls to vote for presidential candidates in North Carolina, though the outcome was never in doubt.
In that sense, it was more reminiscent of previous presidential primaries for both parties, when North Carolina voters had little say in choosing a nominee.
With 79 percent of the precincts reporting, Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, led with 74 percent of the vote. Mike Huckabee trailed with 12 percent, followed by Ron Paul with 7 percent, and Alan Keyes with 3 percent. Four percent of Republican voters had no preference.
Mary Giunca, Danielle Deaver and Jim Sparks of the Winston-Salem Journal contributed to this report.