Sen. Barack Obama tonight won North Carolina’ s presidential primary and conceded defeat to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in Indiana, splitting the states and underscoring the growing divide among Democratic voters that threatens the party’s unity going forward.
The continued stalemate plays well for Mr. Obama’s path to the nomination because it leaves ever fewer states for Mrs. Clinton to make the major statement she needs to flip the contest.
Mr. Obama called North Carolina “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.”
Mr. Obama leads in pledged delegates, states won and the overall popular vote.
With 20 percent of precincts reporting, he had a commanding lead in North Carolina 62 percent to 37 percent. In Indiana, Mrs. Clinton was ahead 53 percent to 47 percent with 65 percent of precincts reporting.
But many of Mrs. Clinton’s supporters said they would not be satisfied if Mr. Obama is the eventual nominee, and similar margins of his supporters said they would not be satisfied with her, either.
Mr. Obama last night acknowledged “bruised feelings on both sides,” but he said the prospect of another Republican president will force the party to unify behind him at the end of the contest.
“At this defining moment in history — a moment when we’re facing two wars, an economy in turmoil, a planet in peril — we can’t afford to give John McCain the chance to serve out George Bush’s third term. We need change in America,” he said at North Carolina State University.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.