North Carolina and Indiana Vote
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And, to our viewers, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM. Happening now, the Democrats' hour of reckoning. We're only a few moments away from the first raw votes on this important primary day. We're standing by to bring you all the results as they come in from Indiana and North Carolina. And we're live covering Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama fighting to the finish, win or lose tonight. The best political team on television is here in force with analysis you will only get here. And new sparks over a gas tax holiday, the Democratic camps trading allegations of pandering. We heard from a top Hillary Clinton backer just a little while ago this hour. A leading Barack Obama supporter, the Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill responds. I'm Wolf Blitzer at the CNN Election Center. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Right now, most polling places in Indiana are closing their doors and we're standing by to get the first real vote results on this crucial primary day for Democrats. Heading into today's vote, Hillary Clinton was four points ahead of Barack Obama in Indiana, when you average all the latest state polls. Obama led Clinton by 10 points in today's other battleground, North Carolina -- up for grabs, 72 pledged delegates in Indiana, 115 in North Carolina. As voting winds down in both states right now, we're going to bring you the raw vote totals as they come in, also new exit poll information, all of that just moments away. The best political team on television is standing by. And let's begin with Candy Crowley. She's covering the Obama campaign in North Carolina. All right, Candy, what happened today?</s>CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Wolf, Barack Obama began his day in Indiana, but he will finish here tonight in North Carolina. It is here in North Carolina where he hopes to start to change the conversation.</s>SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How's it going, guys? How are you?</s>CROWLEY: Past midnight in Indianapolis, Barack Obama reached out to the night shift as they left an auto parts plant scheduled to shut down in 2010. Half the UAW workers will be out of a job.</s>OBAMA: Love to have your support tomorrow. Thank you.</s>CROWLEY: He's been trying to connect in places like this, the plant he visited last night, the diner he visited in the early morning.</s>OBAMA: Nice to see you. What kind of business you guys in?</s>CROWLEY: He wants to break Clinton's hold on working-class voters.</s>OBAMA: People are much more familiar with Senator Clinton and President Clinton and their track record. You have got to give them credit. They have been on the scene for 20 years. And, so, you know, they're not going to go down easy.</s>CROWLEY: A brutal eight weeks has not helped, losing Ohio and Pennsylvania, and then Jeremiah Wright, followed by Obama's own words about bitter voters in small towns. It has all sown doubt.</s>OBAMA: Any people still undecided here? Because I want to work on you.</s>CROWLEY: Despite his turbulent two months, Obama has maintained a lead in delegates. So, what he needs tonight is not so much a game- changer. He badly needs a mood-changer.</s>CROWLEY: The Obama campaign has not talked much tonight about winning or losing a state, but you hear an awful lot of talk about those pledged delegates and those superdelegates. Right now, as you know, overall, Barack Obama has that lead, and they expect him to hold on to it regardless of what happens tonight -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: All right, Candy, stand by in Raleigh, North Carolina. Hillary Clinton says every primary day is filled with the unexpected. Will tonight's results throw a curve into this race? Let's go live to CNN's Suzanne Malveaux. She's with the Clinton campaign in Indiana. All right, what's going on there, Suzanne?</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, really a good night for the Clinton folks is to win Indiana, perhaps by double digits, but also not to lose too badly in North Carolina, but also looking at that group, certainly hoping that Clinton does not win a key group, the older white blue-collar working voters, that Barack Obama does not actually gain any type of lead in those voters, so that she can turn around to the superdelegates and say, it's legitimate that she continue.</s>MALVEAUX (voice-over): Rev up your engines. Today is going to be a hell of a ride -- Hillary Clinton itching to take that victory lap at the Indy Racetrack today.</s>SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need to get on the track in America, and get toward the finish line and change this country.</s>MALVEAUX: She says her campaign is going full-throttle, no matter what happens when polls close tonight.</s>CLINTON: It's going to be the rest of these contests which are very significant. And then, in June, if we haven't done it already, we're going to have to resolve Florida and Michigan.</s>MALVEAUX: But some close to her concede she must win Indiana, and can't lose by more than five points in North Carolina to justify staying in. Facing that reality, Clinton is also cautious.</s>CLINTON: Life is unpredictable. Racing is unpredictable. Politics is unpredictable. So, I'm just going to wait and see what the voters have to say.</s>MALVEAUX: After two weeks of pounding the pavement across the state...</s>SEN. EVAN BAYH (D), INDIANA: She's been to Hammond. She's been to Whiting. She's been to Hobart. She's been to Crown Point. She's been to Merrillville. She's been to Valparaiso. How about that?</s>MALVEAUX: ... she's courting those voters most loyal, older, white, working-class, trying to prove she is trustworthy and stands with the working people she says she will fight for, promising to bring mandated universal health care, gas tax relief, and home foreclosure aid.</s>CLINTON: Some people say I'm tough. Well, I think you have got to be tough to go after the oil companies and the oil countries and get...</s>MALVEAUX: And, Wolf, there's no one I have talked who says they believe this is going to go to the August convention. They hope that Florida, Michigan and the remaining contests all get wrapped up in June. There are many people who still believe she's got momentum, she can move forward, but there are some of her closest supporters who, Wolf, believe that perhaps she's peaked too late -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux reporting for us from Indianapolis, thank you. We're getting a sense of what's important to voters right now as they cast their ballots. Let's go back to our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider. He's keeping watch of the exit polls and new numbers, Bill, are coming in.</s>WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: That's right. And the big question here is who's got the economic issue in these two critical states? Well, the voters certainly have it. In Indiana, almost two-thirds said the economy was the top issue over Iraq and health care. But how did they vote? The answer is, they voted for Hillary Clinton, but by a narrow margin, Clinton 54 percent, Obama 45 percent, just a nine-point margin, a very close race there on the economic issue. What about North Carolina, where 60 percent of the voters said the economy was their top concern? In that state, North Carolina, Obama led among voters who said the economy was their top concern, but, again, it was close, 52 percent Obama, 44 percent Clinton. So, the answer seems to be neither candidate has a clear or decisive advantage on the economic issue -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Bill Schneider, thanks very much. Bill Schneider is going to continue to watch all these numbers for us. Today's crucial primaries are in states that tend to be red states. So, why are North Carolina and Indiana so important right now to the Democrats? Let's go to our chief national correspondent, John King. Good question. What's the answer?</s>JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The answer is because the Democratic contest carries on into May, so every state counts, Wolf, even states that are likely to be red come November. This is the blue map so far. The light blue is Senator Clinton. The dark blue is Senator Obama. Texas was a draw because of the caucus and the primary state. As you can see, we're running out of contests. So, the clock is ticking on Senator Clinton. What does she need to do tonight? Well, she needs number one to win Indiana. And where do we look for Barack Obama? First let's make this point. We just said the polls are closed, except for in 12 counties in Indiana, six up here and six down there. They have about another 55 minutes of voting to do. So, we will watch that. And, as we speak, this board could start filling in at any moment as the results come in. You might see colors starting to come in. Two big things to look for tonight. The challenge for Barack Obama is to blunt Hillary Clinton's argument with the superdelegates. She says Barack Obama is too weak in the fall, because he's not winning white, downscale blue-collar Democratic voters. And in a big state like Ohio, a big state like Pennsylvania, that would make all the difference. Where can Obama prove he's making progress? Right up here. Chicago is here. In this area here, an African-American population in Gary, but also a lot of steelworkers and blue-collar whites work up in this area right up in here. Another area we would look for Barack Obama tonight, Saint Joseph County is the home of South Bend and the University of Notre Dame. Catholic voters, Clinton pummeled Obama among Catholic voters in Pennsylvania. A key test tonight, can he show even if she beats him progress in a key constituency? That would hurt her argument with superdelegates, even if she carries this state. The biggest points, Wolf, for Barack Obama, win the African- Americans here, win them here, and hold his own everywhere elsewhere where you have white, downscale Democrats, a lot of rural Democrats. Indiana, a big test of Barack Obama's appeal, even -- again,even if Clinton wins among white voters. And the challenge for Senator Clinton is very different out here in North Carolina. This is a state where you have more than 20 percent of the electorate is African-American. In every state where that fact exists, Barack Obama, especially south of the Mason-Dixon Line, has won and won substantially. Can Senator Clinton pull off an upset? Can she change the psychology of the Democratic race and be able to say, see, he's now even struggling in states where he should be heavily favored? Large African-American corridor up here, another one up in this district up here, old tobacco country, one of the poorer places in the country, former slave territory up in this area. And again for Senator Clinton, white rural Democrats down here, quite a few of them out here. A key place to watch early on to see if Barack Obama is struggling at all in this state or whether he's doing what he needs to do, right here in Durham County. This is a highly-educated area, a lot of postgraduate voters, a mix of African-Americans and upscale Democrats. That has been his base, Wolf. If he's doing well here as the results start to come in early, that would be a good sign for Barack Obama in a state he needs to win.</s>BLITZER: It's interesting that he decided to stay in North Carolina tonight. That's where he will eventually be speaking. She decided to stay in Indiana. That's eventually where she will be speaking. So, what does that mean?</s>KING: That politics is not rocket science, that he thinks he's going to win North Carolina and she thinks she's going to win Indiana.</s>BLITZER: It makes a lot of sense. And we will see what happens. If that happens, we will go on to West Virginia a week from today.</s>KING: That, we will.</s>BLITZER: John, thanks very much. Don't leave, because we have got a lot of work to do. And watch what happens just moments from now. The first polls are now closed. We're waiting for the early results to come in. Once those numbers come in, you will see them in real time. Results in North Carolina and Indiana could dramatically change this Democratic race. What will happen if Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama though split the contest? I will ask Obama supporter Senator Claire McCaskill. She's live. That's coming up. The latest polling numbers are also coming in from Indiana and North Carolina. We will be back with Bill Schneider. He's going through the exit polls for you. And how much does money really matter? Who spent the most? Where was the cash spent? Stay with us as the results of this crucial race unfold tonight -- right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.