Confirming recent polls, Senator Barack Obama won yesterday’s primary in North Carolina while Senator Hillary Clinton was victorious in Indiana. A strong base of African American Democrats gave Senator Obama a large margin of victory in North Carolina with 56% of the vote to Clinton’s 42%. Senator Clinton made a strong pitch to blue-collar workers and pulled a majority of the votes in rural and suburban Indiana giving a 51% advantage to Obama’s 49%. Clinton inched ahead of Obama but didn’t give her the victory she was hoping for, making Obama’s nomination all but inevitable although Clinton claims she will not give up the fight leaving the choice to the superdelegates.
Voter turnout was high in both states as it has been throughout the Democratic nomination process, reflecting the interest and enthusiasm of the competition between Obama and Clinton. The high Democratic turnout may also be a reflection of growing dissatisfaction with the Bush Administration as Democrats are hopeful to take the White House after the previous eight years.
Exit poll data gave some surprising insight into the results in which the democratic candidates competed for a greater share of the 115 and 72 delegates in North Carolina and Indiana respectively. The economy was of greatest concern in both primaries as the country’s slipping economy has been deemed a recession by many economists and politicians. According to exit polls Obama took an overwhelming 91% of the black vote in North Carolina with Clinton taking 59% of the white vote. The recent Wright controversy seems to have had an impact on voters; people claiming Obama’s former pastor made a difference voted heavily in Clinton’s favor (59%) while those that didn’t believe there was any impact voted for Obama (71%). This information shows that recent and constant media attention surrounding the reverend’s extreme ideas did affect some opinions although it is difficult to tell whether the voters would’ve voted for Clinton anyways.
In North Carolina Barack Obama gave an eloquent victory speech claiming the hard fight between himself and Senator Clinton will not affect the unity of the Democratic Party come November elections. “I love this country too much it’s the only reason I am standing here today.” Obama’s claims of hope and inspirational change are in response to recent criticisms from within the party that this long nomination process is damaging the party. In a speech that seems much like a general election preparation, Obama is hoping that he can convince superdelegates to elevate him to the nomination. Clinton’s speech in Indiana called for the delegates to be counted in Michigan and Florida as she vowed to continue fighting for the nomination until she made it to the White House.
After Clinton’s promise to stay in the race and Obama’s claim to be the clear nominee, it seems the contest was affected only slightly by Obama’s win and Clinton’s small margin of victory in yesterday’s primaries. The Democratic nominee will ultimately be decided by superdelegates that are currently staying quiet and hoping that the candidates will decide between themselves. Howard Dean and the DNC are hoping that the selection can be made by June 3rd so that the nominee can focus on November’s general election.
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