Barack Obama defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday in the North Carolina primary, ensuring a split decision in the last two big-delegate states left in their marathon race for the Democratic presidential nomination, NBC News projected.
In the other state, Indiana, the race was too early to call, the network said.
In northern Indiana, a circuit court judge ordered elections officials to keep two voting locations open past the poll closing time because mistakes in starting up electronic voting machines resulted in delays in opening the polls.
The economy was the top issue by far in both states, according to interviews with voters as they left polling places.
Voters in both states were divided evenly when asked whether the controversy surrounding Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was a factor in their decisions, though the issue was not necessarily an advantage for Clinton. In Indiana, those who said the Wright situation influenced their decision were leaning heavily toward Clinton, while those who dismissed his importance were leaning nearly as strongly toward Obama.
A virtual must-win state
Indiana was a virtual must-win state for the former first lady, who was hoping to counter Obama's delegate advantage with a strong run through the late primaries.
Indiana exit polls charted a racial divide that has become familiar in a long, historic campaign pitting a black man against a white woman.
Obama was gaining more than 90 percent of the black vote in Indiana, while Clinton was winning an estimated 61 percent of the white vote, running ahead of her rival among white men as well as women.
She also had 51 percent of independents, to 49 for her rival, a statistical tie, and was winning among Democrats, 53-47.
In North Carolina, the last Southern state to hold a primary, an estimated one-third of all votes were cast by blacks. Only Democrats and unaffiliated voters were permitted to vote in North Carolina.
