By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer 

RALEIGH, N.C. (Posted May 7, 2008) – A nail-bitter into the morning hours ended with Sen. Barack Obama winning a decisive win in North Carolina and losing by the narrowest of margins to Sen. Hillary Clinton in Indiana.  

Obama’s victory in the Tar Heel State was announced seconds after the polls closed.  With 99 percent of the votes counted by midnight, the Illinois senator had defeated the New York senator 58 percent to 42 percent in North Carolina.

But Indiana was a different story.  Tardy vote tallies from one of the largest counties in the state, Lake County, a suburb of Chicago with one of the largest populations in the state, was slow reporting.

The delay required Clinton to give remarks to supporters without a clear check in the win column.  “Tonight we’ve come from behind. We’ve broken the tie and thanks to you, it’s full speed on to the White House,” Clinton told a rally in Indianapolis.

Mayor Rudy Clay, of Gary, Ind., told CNN that the reason for the delays was that the small election staff was dealing with 11,000 absentee and early ballots, and that they had been overwhelmed by the unprecedented number of voters who turned out during the day.

Obama addressed supporters gathered at North Carolina State in the field house after his victory and congratulated Clinton for “what appears to be her victory in the state of Indiana.”

Sticking to his message of change, Obama told a cheering crowd, “There were those who were saying that North Carolina would be a game-changer in this election, but today what North Carolina decided is that the only game that needs changing is the one in Washington, D.C.”

After tonight’s contest, only six primaries are left.  Next Tuesday, West Virginia voters will go the polls, leaving Kentucky and Oregon (May 20), Puerto Rico (June 1) and Montana and South Dakota (June 3) as the last battles for elected delegates.

Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic Party, has said that super-delegates will be asked to meet following the final contest in June, in hopes of allowing the party time to mend fences before the August convention.

In Indiana, where Clinton won, the primary was open to Republicans and Independents – but not here in North Carolina.  Only Democratic and Independents can vote in the primary. 

This could have been a factor in how close the race was in Indiana; Obama usually fairs well among Independent voters.

North Carolina reported record turnout of primary voters Tuesday, and it wasn’t really surprising.  This year the state registered 106,000 new Democrats leading up today’s contest.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections showed 471,006 early votes and 24,900 absentee ballots mailed before today’s vote.

“We know what’s coming. We’ve seen it already,” Obama said. “The attempts to play on our fears and exploit our differences to turn us against each other for pure political gain — to slice and dice this country into red states and blue states; blue-collar and white-collar; White and Black, and Brown.”

The theme of party unity was in Obama’s speech to supporters, and he avoided targeting his rival, saving those for the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)

Clinton’s 51-percent victory, to Obama’s 49 percent, will not give her any significant delegate lead.  These contests offered the largest remaining numbers of delegates. 

Indiana had 72 delegates at stake, North Carolina 115.

 Obama  leads Clinton in total delegates, 1,745 to 1,608, according to The Associated Press. 

It’s not possible for either candidate to reach the 2,025 delegate votes needed to secure the nomination, so they are relying on super-delegates to take them over the threshold.