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Obama Takes N.C., Clinton Squeaks by in Indiana
by Cash Michaels
For New Pittsburgh Courier
RALEIGH (NNPA) - Despite narrowing pre-primary polls, withering negative national headlines and a relentless assault by his fierce Democratic opponent, North Carolina put Sen. Barack Obama’s historic bid for the presidency firmly back in the driver’s seat Tuesday with a commanding 56-42 primary victory over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.
''There were those who were saying that North Carolina could be a ‘game-changer'. But today, what North Carolina decided is that the only game that needs changing is the one in Washington, DC,” the African-American candidate, with his beaming wife, Michelle looking on, said to over 3,000 cheering supporters Tuesday night in North Carolina State University’s Reynolds Coliseum.
 | Savoring their impressive 56-42 percent victory over Democratic
presidential rival Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama [D-Ill] and
his wife, Michelle, thank enthusiastic supporters Tuesday night at NC
State University. Clinton won Indiana, however, by a razor-slim 51-49
percent.
Photo by Cash Michaels |
“I want to thank the people of North Carolina for giving us a victory in a big state,” Obama continued, “a swing state, and a state where we will compete to win if I am the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.”
Winning the lion’s share of North Carolina’s 115 pledged delegates, in addition to the popular vote, made losing the Indiana primary 51-49 percent in a squeaker to Clinton later that evening easier for the Illinois Democrat to swallow.
Obama conceded that Clinton victory early, satisfied that the night was his.
Obama’s impressive North Carolina triumph wounded Sen. Clinton’s claim that she is the surging, most viable Democratic presidential candidate to face presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain in November, despite Obama’s frontrunner status and insurmountable pledged delegate lead.
Uncommitted superdelegates, who must make the ultimate decision about whom to declare the Democratic Party nominee before the party convention in August, are hard pressed now to justify turning their backs on Obama, as Hillary Clinton and her supporters have insisted they do.
Clinton seemed to admit as much during what some suggested was a conciliatory victory speech in Indiana.
Though she had hoped for a decisive victory in the Hoosier State, coupled with either a surprise win in North Carolina - where both her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and NC Gov. Mike Easley, campaigned exhaustively - or at least a convincing narrowing of the 20-point lead Obama had there, she was stunningly denied both.
While vowing to “work my heart out” running in West Virginia and Kentucky -two of the upcoming six remaining primaries that conclude June 3 - Clinton’s tone was no longer defiant.
“I want to commend Senator Obama and his supporters on their win in North Carolina,” the New York senator told supporters, as her subdued husband, and daughter, Chelsea, looked on. “We are, in many ways, on the same journey. It’s a journey begun long before we were born. It is a journey by men and women who have been on a mission to perfect our union, who marched and protested, who risked everything they had to build an America that embraces us all.”
As she did with the NC Black Press a week earlier, Sen. Clinton vowed to work as hard as she could to elect the Democratic nominee in the fall.
“I know that people are watching this race and they're wondering, I win, he wins, I win, he wins. It’s so close. And I think that says a lot about how excited and passionate our supporters are and how intent so many Americans are to really taking their country back,” Clinton said.”
“But I can assure you, as I have said on many occasions, that no matter what happens, I will work for the nominee of the Democratic Party, because we must win in November.”
While his margin of victory in North Carolina was impressive, the Obama win still betrayed signs of weaknesses.
With the re-emergence of the racial controversy involving his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, plaguing his campaign and threatening to undermine his ability to win a significant percentage of White, working class voters, Obama struggled with that demographic in North Carolina, garnering 36 percent to Clinton’s 59 percent, according to exit polls.
The same held true in Indiana, where Sen. Clinton laid claim to that support base.
However, as with Obama’s other primary victories in states with a significant African-American population, especially in the South, the Democratic frontrunner dominated the senator from New York, 91 percent to 6 percent.
He also did well with young people; new voters; and white, educated progressive whites.
Thanks to Obama, Democratic voter registration in North Carolina jumped to over 100,000 since January, and early voting figures logged in at almost 500,000.
NC election officials estimate that over 2 million voters went to the polls Tuesday, making it one for the history books.
But Obama faces another looming problem - Hillary Clinton voters who vow not to vote for him in November if he is indeed the nominee. Exit polls show that while 45 percent of Clinton voters would support Obama, 38 percent indicated they would vote for Republican John McCain.
Pundits are saying Clinton, who is not expected to be chosen as Obama’s vice presidential running mate, will have to work hard to pull her White, working class and White female coalition together with Obama’s supporters in order to win the White House for him.
But she may no be ready to make that deal just yet.
The Obama victory comes amid yet another attempt by the Clinton campaign to redefine the terms of the game, suggesting Tuesday that the 2,025 pledged delegate goal for nomination set by the Democratic National Committee should actually be 2,208.
Clinton campaign strategists argue that the pledged delegates Sen. Clinton won in the certified Florida and Michigan primaries should count, even though both states’ delegates were disallowed by the DNC because they changed their primary dates without authorization.
While Sen. Obama didn’t campaign in either state, as mandated by the DNC, and actually removed his name from the Michigan ballot, Clinton won both uncontested but disallowed contests.
Now the DNC’s Rules Committee must determine a way to seat the Florida and Michigan delegates at the Democratic Convention in Denver, Col. in August, but either split the delegates between Clinton and Obama, or come up with another formula for pledged delegate distribution that is acceptable to everyone.
DNC Chairman Howard Dean said the 2025 delegate goal is still in force, even though neither Obama nor Clinton can reach the magic number without the approximately 300 undeclared superdelegates weighing in.
Many of them are expected to do just that in coming days, thus, bringing Sen. Clinton’s campaign for the presidency, to an end.
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