Obama wins N. Carolina, Clinton takes Indiana

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were split in crucial presidential contests in Indiana and North Carolina on Tuesday, pushing Obama closer to securing the Democratic nomination but keeping Clinton's hopes alive.

CBS News projected a Clinton win in Indiana, which would preserve her slender chances in a prolonged Democratic duel that now moves to the next contest in one week in West Virginia.

Obama swamped Clinton in North Carolina, rebounding from a rough campaign 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.

The two Democrats have battled for months for the right to represent the party in November's presidential election against Republican John McCain.

"We have seen that it's possible to overcome the politics of division and distraction, that it's possible to overcome the same old negative attacks," Obama told cheering supporters in Raleigh, North Carolina. Obama, a 46-year-old Illinois senator who would be the first black U.S. president, started his remarks by congratulating Clinton on "what appears to be a victory in the great state of Indiana."

An upbeat Clinton celebrated and told cheering supporters in Indianapolis: "It's full speed on to the White House." Clinton, a 60-year-old New York senator and former first lady who would be the country's first woman president, also asked for donations to keep alive her campaign, which has been heavily outspent by Obama. Obama's big win in North Carolina, where he led 57 percent to 43 percent with about 82 percent of the vote counted, moved him closer to the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the nomination at the party's August convention.

The result dealt a heavy blow to Clinton's efforts to overtake him in either delegates or popular votes won during the state-by-state nominating contests. Indiana and North Carolina, with a combined 187 delegates to the Democrats' convention at stake, were the biggest prizes left in the Democratic race. Only six contests remain with a combined 217 delegates at stake.