HILLARY Clinton has narrowly won the Democratic presidential primary in Indiana, eking out a two-point victory after a protracted vote count.
While Senator Clinton claimed the victory earlier, telling supporters it was now "full speed on to the White House", she also suffered a big defeat to Barack Obama in the larger North Carolina primary. It now appears the epic struggle for the Democratic nomination is now firmly back in Senator Obama's favour, with his coming much closer to toppling Senator Clinton in Indiana than expected. Five hours after polls closed and with 100 per cent of votes tallied, Senator Clinton won the midwestern state by 51 to 49 per cent.
But tonight's results are expected to give Senator Obama more than 20 delegates on Senator Clinton and strengthen his claim to the nomination. He could be leading Senator Clinton by more than 160 delegates after today's contests in North Carolina and Indiana. If the results hold as they appear tonnight, Senator Clinton will need to win the remaining six contests, based on The Australian's calculations, by more 90 per cent to secure a delegate lead - an impossible task. Senator Obama is likely to end the night with the finishing line firmly in sight - about 200 delegates short of the 2025 needed to secure the nomination. Delegates are awarded state by state in the primary races and North Carolina was the biggest prize tonight, offering 115. Indiana had 72 up for grabs. The delegates are awarded proportionally depending on the vote, which is why it is likely that Senator Obama could tie his rival or even beat her on the delegate count from Indiana, thanks to complicated apportionment rules.
Exit polls aired by several US networks earlier showed Senator Clinton with a double-digit lead in Indiana, prompting CBS News to project a victory for the New Yorker.
Senator Clinton claimed victory at about 10:40pm but by midnight her lead had eroded to less than 2 percentage points.
The last votes to be counted came from Lake County in Indiana's northwest, a suburb of Chicago, Senator Obama's hometown, where he won by a large margin.
In prepared remarks tonight to a victory rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, Senator Obama conceded Indiana but changed the speech on delivery as the race tightened, saying Senator Clinton "appears to be" headed to victory. But on his win he said: ``Some were saying that North Carolina would be a game-changer in this election. But today, what North Carolina decided is that the only game that needs changing is the one in Washington DC.'' Senator Clinton, flanked by her husband, former president Bill Clinton, and daughter Chelsea, vowed to press on and sounded a victory note despite signs that her win in Indiana would be narrow. ``Tonight it's your victory,'' she told a cheering crowd in Indianapolis after CBS News projected that she had won the state's primary. ``Tonight we've come from behind. We've broken the tie and thanks to you, it's full speed on to the White House.'' An Indiana win for Senator Clinton will undoubtedly fuel her argument that Senator Obama's failure to reach white, blue-collar workers in such states could be a detriment in the general election fight against presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. While Senator Clinton was sweeping the vote in Indiana in regional areas - dominated by white working-class votes - early voting in cities and heavily populated areas was breaking heavily for Senator Obama
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