May 7, 2008 12:00 am US/Eastern
CBS News: Obama Takes N.C., Clinton Wins Indiana
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (CBS News) ―
CBS News projects that Hillary Rodham Clinton will win the Indiana Democratic primary and Barack Obama will win in North Carolina.
With 99 percent of the votes being reported in the state, she was leading Obama 51 percent to 49 percent.
At a rally in Indianapolis, Clinton said that her Indiana victory had "broken the tie."
"And thanks to you, it's full speed to the White House," she said to the cheering crowd.
CBS News chief political consultant Marc Ambinder reports Clinton will talk with her campaign brain trust on Wednesday to decide what to do next.
Obama's North Carolina victory mirrored earlier triumphs in Southern states with large black populations: Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and South Carolina among them. With 85 percent of the votes in North Carolina being reported, Obama was leading Clinton 56 percent to 42 percent.
At his own rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, Obama struck a conciliatory tone by acknowledging Clinton's Indiana win.
"I want to start by congratulating Senator Clinton in what appears to be her victory in the great state of Indiana," he said.
Obama went on to tout his North Carolina victory as a win in a "big state, in a swing state," and vowed to compete to win it in the general election.
CBS News exit poll results show that most voters in both states made up their minds a while ago. Only 18 percent in Indiana and 14 percent in North Carolina decided in the last three days. Twenty-five percent in Indiana and 20 percent in North Carolina decided in the last week.
Late deciders backed Clinton in Indiana by a margin of 59 percent to 41 percent for Obama. In North Carolina, Obama won late deciders by a much smaller margin of 49 percent to 48 percent.
Clinton received the support of 60 percent of white voters in both states, while Obama got 40 percent of the white vote in Indiana and 36 percent in North Carolina. Obama won the overwhelming majority of black voters: 92 percent in Indiana and 91 percent in North Carolina.
As it has been throughout the Democratic primaries, the economy was the most important issue in both states with 67 percent of voters in Indiana describing it as such and 61 percent in North Carolina. In Indiana, 49 percent of voters said Clinton would be more likely to improve the economy and 47 percent said that Obama would. In North Carolina, 53 percent said that Obama would be more likely to improve the economy and 42 percent said that Clinton would.
Nearly half of voters in both states said the situation with Obama's former pastor Reverend Wright was important in their vote, while half said that it was not. In Indiana, 46 percent said that it was important and 51 percent said that it was not, while in North Carolina, 47 percent said the Wright situation was important in their vote and 51 percent said that it was not.
In both states, more voters thought that Clinton attacked Obama unfairly than vice-versa. Sixty-four percent of Indiana voters and 67 percent of North Carolina voters thought Clinton attacked her opponent unfairly, while only 44 percent in Indiana and 40 percent in North Carolina thought that Obama unfairly attacked Clinton.
Looking ahead to the general election, CBS News early exit polls showed that the majority of voters said that they would not be satisfied if the Democratic candidate they did not support were to become the nominee. Only 35 percent of Clinton voters in Indiana and 34 percent in North Carolina said they would be satisfied with Obama. Forty percent of Obama voters in Indiana and 45 percent in North Carolina would be satisfied if Clinton becomes the Democratic nominee.
Obama was seen as the candidate with the best chance at beating presumptive Republican nominee John McCain in the general election. Forty-seven percent of voters in Indiana thought that Clinton could McCain, while 50 percent thought that Obama could win in November. In North Carolina, 39 percent thought that Clinton could beat McCain and 55 percent thought that Obama could beat the Arizona senator.
Obama had 1,830 delegates to 1,680 for Clinton in the latest CBS News delegate count. 2,025 are needed for the nomination.
In Indiana, Clinton was leading Obama with 38 delegates to Obama's 29. In North Carolina, Obama was ahead 35 to 23.
Both races were dominated in the final days by Clinton's call for a summertime suspension of the federal gasoline tax, an issue that she created after scoring a victory in the Pennsylvania primary two weeks ago.
Obama ridiculed the proposal as a stunt that would cost jobs, not the break for consumers she claimed. The two rivals dug in, devoting personal campaign time and television commercials to the issue.
Indiana had 72 delegates at stake, and Clinton projected confidence about the results by arranging a primary-night appearance in Indianapolis.
North Carolina had 115 delegates at stake, and Obama countered with a rally in Raleigh.
The rivals made their final appeals in Indiana as the polls opened, the former first lady at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Obama greeting early morning diners at a restaurant.
Clinton declined to offer a prediction about the outcome. Obama wouldn't either, except to say, "I think it's going to be close."
Obama leads Clinton in delegates won in primaries and caucuses. Despite his defeat two weeks ago, he has steadily whittled away at her advantage in superdelegates in the past two weeks and trails 257 to 271.
Clinton saved her candidacy with her win in Pennsylvania, and she campaigned aggressively in Indiana in hopes of denying Obama a victory next door to his home state of Illinois. Indiana is home to large numbers of blue-collar workers who have been attracted to the former first lady, and she sought to use her call for a federal gas tax holiday to draw them and other economically pinched voters closer.
Inevitably, the issue quickly took on larger dimensions.
Obama said it symbolized a candidacy consisting of "phony ideas, calculated to win elections instead of actually solving problems."
Clinton retorted, "Instead of attacking the problem, he's attacking my solutions," and ran an ad in the campaign's final hours that said she "gets it."
To a large extent, the gasoline tax eclipsed the controversy surrounding Obama's former pastor. After saying several weeks earlier he could not disown the Rev. Jeremiah Wright for his fiery sermons, Obama did precisely that when the minister embarked on a media tour.
At a news conference in North Carolina last week, Obama equated Wright's comments with "giving comfort to those who prey on hate."
The balance of the primary schedule includes West Virginia, with 28 delegates on May 13; Oregon with 52 and Kentucky with 51 a week later; Puerto Rico with 55 delegates on June 1, and Montana with 16 and South Dakota with 15 on June 3.
Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican nomination already in hand, campaigned in North Carolina and assailed Obama for his vote against confirmation of Chief Justice John Roberts.
"Senator Obama in particular likes to talk up his background as a lecturer on law, and also as someone who can work across the aisle to get things done," McCain said. "But ... he went right along with the partisan crowd, and was among the 22 senators to vote against this highly qualified nominee."
Clinton also voted against Roberts, but McCain, as if often the case, focused his remarks on Obama.
Obama's campaign responded that the Republican would pick judges who represent a threat to abortion rights and to McCain's own legislation to limit the role of money in political campaigns.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
