Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton split crucial presidential contests in Indiana and North Carolina on Tuesday, pushing Obama closer to securing the Democratic nomination but keeping Clinton's faint hopes alive.
CBS News projected Clinton's win in Indiana, which preserved her slender chances in a prolonged Democratic duel that now moves to the next contest in one week in West Virginia. Other networks had not made a projection with more than two-thirds of the vote counted and Clinton leading 53 percent to 47 percent.
"I want to start by congratulating Senator Clinton on what appears to be a victory in the great state of Indiana," Obama told supporters in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Obama swamped Clinton in North Carolina, righting his campaign after a rough patch fueled by his comments on "bitter" small-town residents and a controversy over racially charged comments by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Indiana and North Carolina, with a combined 187 delegates to the Democrats' August nominating convention at stake, were the biggest prizes left in the Democratic race. Only six contests remain.
The two Democrats have battled for months for the right to represent the party in November's presidential election against Republican John McCain.
Obama, a 46-year-old Illinois senator who would be the first black U.S. president, has an almost unassailable lead in pledged delegates who will help select the Democratic nominee.
His win in North Carolina will move him closer to the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the nomination and reduce the chance Clinton will be able to overtake his lead in either pledged delegates or popular votes won in the state-by-state nominating battle.
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