Obama Takes North Carolina, Loses Indiana

One reality remains clear in the democratic race to be the presidential nominee -- neither candidate can get enough pledged delegates in the remaining primaries, so superdelegates must decide the race.

Nothing shocking happened in Tuesday's primaries. Sen. Barack Obama (D., Ill.) won as expected in North Carolina by a large margin, and he lost small in Indiana to Sen. Hillary Clinton (D., N.Y.). Obama added slightly to his pledged delegate lead and popular vote total.

A month ago, Obama led the polls in North Carolina by almost 20 points, while polls in Indiana reported no decisive edge for either candidate. African-Americans play a large role in North Carolina. They make up about 34% of the Democratic electorate in the state, and they overwhelmingly chose Obama over Clinton by more than 90%. Indiana borders Obama's home state of Illinois. The expensive media market from Illinois covers about 25% of Indiana, which Obama exploited with an advantage in ads. ...