Obama Takes North Carolina

By Pamela Mortimer

The race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has been a tight one. While the final results have not been determined, exit polls show that Barack Obama has taken North Carolina by more than 30 percent. The other big primary election held on Tuesday was Indiana. It appears that Hillary Clinton has taken the lead but it’s too close to call.

North Carolina and Indiana are the only significant states left on the primary calendar. Significant because the delegates each state offers could put a candidate over the top and help to secure a place on November’s presidential ballot. North Carolina holds 115 delegates, Indiana holds 72 delegates. The balance of the upcoming primaries offers fewer than 60 delegates apiece.

Experts state that Hillary Clinton’s advantage in Indiana is based on groups that have been loyal to her in earlier primaries. These groups include white women, white working-class voters, and rural voters.

According to the exit polls, Clinton continues to be the favorite of white voters with no college degree. In Indiana, 65 percent of the votes went for Clinton, 34 percent for Obama. In North Carolina, 67 percent of the votes went for Clinton, 26 percent for Obama.

Clinton won the majority of the votes among white men in both states, but the support wasn’t sufficient enough to upset Obama’s stronghold with young and black voters in North Carolina.

In the Tarheel State, Obama was receiving 91 percent of the black vote. College-educated voters were also voting for Obama over Clinton. The most recent tally ranks Obama at 55 percent, Clinton at 42 percent.

Up until the primary officially began Obama consistently stayed ahead of Clinton although Obama’s lead had been reduced to single digits.

Neither Obama nor Clinton made official predictions on the outcome of the primaries, but observers point to the candidates’ rally sites as an indicator of the results. Clinton’s rally site is located in Indianapolis, IN, while Obama awaits the results in Raleigh, NC.

"Every race is filled with the unexpected. You never know what’s going to happen from day to day," Clinton said earlier in Indianapolis.

One race that wasn’t a surprise to anyone was on the Republican side. John McCain, R-AZ, took both North Carolina and Indiana, averaging more than 80 percent of the votes over opponents Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul.