Barack Obama took a big stride towards the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday with a thumping victory over Hillary Clinton in North Carolina, while she eked out a wafer-thin win in Indiana.
Well after midnight, hours after they declared the North Carolina result, US networks said the former first lady had taken Indiana by a few thousand votes for a victory margin of 51 percent to 49 percent.
In North Carolina, Obama romped home by 56 percent to 42, and used his victory speech here to cast himself as the Democrats’ heir apparent for the November election against Republican John McCain.
“This fall we intend to march forward as one Democratic party united by a common vision for this country because we all agree that at this defining moment in our history, a moment when we are facing two wars, an economy in turmoil, a planet in peril, a dream that feels like it’s slipping away for too many Americans,” he said.