Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton split the two Democratic primary contests this evening. Obama won in North Carolina by 15 percentage points and Indiana went to Clinton by the razor thin margin of 22,000 votes in a state where 1.2 million votes where cast. Obama was able to narrow the gap thanks to late surge in Lake County, home of the city of Gary, and a county that borders Obama’s home state of Illinois.

In an peculiar move, Lake County, Indiana withheld all vote totals until 11:45pm eastern time.

The bottom-line of the Democratic contests in Indiana and North Carolina is that Obama had a net gain of approximately 4 pledged delegates and upwards of 200,000 votes in the popular vote column at the time of this posting.

At the same time Hillary has shifted her rhetoric back to focusing on the unseated delegates of Michigan and Florida. This decision sheds light on Clinton’s intentions. This indicates that Clinton does not ever plan on conceding but rather has put the ball in the super delegate’s court.

With Clinton being denied victory in Indiana, pressure on Super Delegates will surely increase from the Obama camp. If the Super Delegates start to break for Obama it will become increasingly difficult and eventually impossible for Clinton to claim the nomination. However, as long as the majority of the 268 unpledged delegates remain at large the contest for the nomination will continue, perhaps until the convention in late August.

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