National attention shifted to North Carolina’s May 6 Democratic presidential primary in ways the state had rarely experienced, and voters responded with record turnouts, giving Sen. Barack Obama a strong advantage against his opponent, Sen. Hillary Clinton. While North Carolina had roughly 36 percent voter turnout and preferred Obama to Clinton 56 percent to 42 percent, associate professor of political science Michael Cobb said Clinton’s disadvantage had been evident for weeks. “Indiana was maybe more pivotal in terms of slamming the door shut on [Clinton], but North Carolina really showed that Obama’s really got control on the election,” he said. What made North Carolina’s role different in this election, Cobb said, was that the length of the primary allowed for more involvement, and as of May 6, it had the highest pledged delegates at stake of any state left — 115. Clinton did not underperform in North Carolina or Indiana, Cobb said, Obama simply performed higher than expected, losing Indiana 49 percent to Clinton’s 51 percent. “The bigger surprise was Indiana,” he said. “People thought [Clinton] would win but [Obama] really made that close.” Obama performed the way he did in North Carolina largely because the state’s demographics favored him, according to Steven Greene, associate professor of political science. Because blacks, college-educated whites, and young people have supported Obama throughout his campaign, and North Carolina has high numbers of these groups, “to say that [Obama’s] message resonated any more [in the state] is not fair,” he said. Black voters supported Obama 91 percent to 6 percent, according to the News and Observer, and Melissa Price, N.C. State alum and vice president of Young Democrats of North Carolina, said young voters also arrived in record numbers Tuesday. “We had 270,000 young people go to the polls,” she said. “We usually don’t have that turnout among young people.” According to Price, an Obama supporter, voters’ enthusiasm and turnout affected the race more than just demographics. “Clinton didn’t go after the youth vote so much … [Obama] staked his ground in young people,” she said. Despite the loss in North Carolina and Obama’s strong lead in pledged delegates and popular votes, Clinton stayed in the race. Kerra Bolton, communication director for the N.C. Democratic Party, said when the party decides on a nominee, there will be no division. “The stakes are just too high for the party to remain divided,” she said. Cobb said he agreed. “Every other nominating process has shown a similar pattern in when there are two people competing for the nomination,” he said. “As soon as there’s one nominee, it becomes a D[emocrat] and R[epublican] race and people will stay with their party.” Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is offering another “Bush term,” Bolton said, and his stances on the war in Iraq and other issues will keep Democrats with their party’s nominee. It’s only a matter of time before Obama is announced as the nominee, Greene said. The many undeclared superdelegates he needs have waited so long to announce already, he said, they might as well wait a few more weeks to finish the remaining contests.

Obama now has a lead in the Associated Press’ superdelegate count for the first time in the election, and several superdelegates have been announcing their support each day. “Once the primaries are done, most of the remaining superdelegates will end up for Obama,” he said.