As expected, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has solidly won the North Carolina primary, ABC News projects, while he and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, remain locked in a tight race in Indiana. Nearly unanimous support among African-Americans, who accounted for a third of voters in North Carolina, lifted Obama to easy victory, according to preliminary exit poll results.
About 91 percent of African American voters in N.C. supported Obama. The Illinois senator also benefited from a surge of new voters; 18 percent in North Carolina said it was their first time voting in a primary, and they favored him by a vast 68-26 percent.
Meanwhile, it's too early to call the race in Indiana. The Hoosier State is seen as Clinton's best chance for victory, with demographics similar to Ohio and Pennsylvania -- states she has won in the past -- but Obama remains competitive in Indiana, a state that borders his homestate of Illinois.
The former first lady has planned a victory rally in an Indianapolis hotel ballroom tonight.
Political watchers argue a double victory for Obama tonight could sway undecided superdelegates and increase pressure on Clinton to step out of the race. The former first lady trails Obama in the delegate count, the popular vote, and in the number of states won.
"If Clinton doesn't win Indiana you wonder how she moves on after that," said Peri Arnold, a political science professor at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Ind.
However a win for Clinton will undoubtably fuel her argument that Obama's failure to reach white, blue-collar workers in states like Indiana could be a detriment in the general election fight against presumptive Republican nominee John McCain.
"Unless one of them is able to win both of these states, I think we're going to have a continuation of the status quo," said Bill Carrick, a Democratic strategist unaffiliated with either candidate.
Indiana Primary Potentially Decisive Battling to the end, the exhausted rivals urged North Carolina and Indiana voters to the polls Tuesday, each hoping to shake up a Democratic race that has gone on longer than anyone expected.