For Obama and Clinton voters, economy dominates

With polls in the last of the delegate-rich states closing, the economy remained the key issue as Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama battled to the wire for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Exit polls for the Associated Press and television networks showed that two-thirds of Democratic primary voters in Indiana and nearly the same proportion in North Carolina said the economy is the most important issue facing the nation. The emphasis on the economy has been a continuing refrain during the primaries, but today’s numbers are higher.

Four in 10 Indiana Democratic voters said the current slowdown has affected their family a great deal. Nearly as many said that in North Carolina.

The exit poll estimated that blacks made up about a third of voters in the North Carolina Democratic primary, about one in seven in Indiana. More than half of voters in both states were women, which is typical for Democratic primaries.

Indiana’s Democratic primary was open to all voters. About one in five said they were independents and one in 10 identified themselves as Republican. North Carolina’s Democratic primary was open only to voters registered as Democratic or unaffiliated.

Earlier polls showed Obama ahead in North Carolina, though his lead has narrowed. Clinton was slightly favored in Indiana.

There were 187 pledged delegates at stake in Indiana and North Carolina as record turnouts were expected in both states. But tonight’s results will not settle the nomination since neither Obama nor Clinton can reach the number of 2,024 delegates needed for the nomination.

When the day began, Obama had 1,745.5 delegates, to 1,608 for Clinton, according to the Associated Press count. Other tallies have Obama leading but by different numbers. The fight was over 72 delegates in Indiana and 115 in North Carolina.

For Clinton, tonight was one of the continuing make-or-break battles that she has fought in recent weeks as she plays catch-up to Obama. For Obama, tonight was a chance to revive a campaign that appeared stalled after a battle over his former pastor.

Clinton scored a strong victory last month in Pennsylvania and campaigned feverishly in Indiana, hoping to prevent Obama from winning a state next door to his Illinois. Clinton relied on a broad appeal to white working-class males and stressed economic issues.

Clinton’s campaign was based in part on a call for a federal gas tax holiday coupled with a windfall profits tax. Obama spurned the tax holiday - which is also backed by Arizona Sen. John McCain, the presumed Republican presidential candidate.

Obama argued that the tax holiday would put little money back in consumers’ pockets and that at best it was a short-term solution to the long-term problem of energy costs. Economists backed Obama.

But as gasoline prices climbed, the idea of a tax holiday gained political, if not economic, support. Obama also had to deal with the anti-American comments by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Obama said weeks ago that he rejected Wright’s comments but could not disown the former pastor of Obama’s church in Chicago. Then Wright launched his own media tour to reclaim his standing and repeated many of his harshest comments.

At a news conference in North Carolina last week, Obama broke with Wright, who officiated at Obama’s marriage and baptized his children.

Obama and Clinton have indicated that they expect the nominating battle to continue through the primary season. The next primary is in West Virginia, with 28 delegates, on May 13. Oregon with 52 and Kentucky with 51 vote are a week later; Puerto Rico with 55 delegates on June 1, and Montana with 16 and South Dakota with 15 on June 3.

With polls showing him ahead in North Carolina, Obama will end the day in Raleigh, N.C. to await election returns.

Clinton visited the Indianapolis Speedway this morning, chatting with path-breaking female driver Sarah Fisher, who has endorsed her. Asked to make a prediction about today’s voting or about the future of the race for the Democratic nomination, Clinton demurred.

“Every race is filled with the unexpected,” she said after admiring Fisher’s car. “It’s like life.”

Clinton, who polls show still ahead in Indiana, will await results in Indianapolis tonight.

Ending months of speculation about which candidate he would endorse, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, citing admirable qualifies in each, said he’d decided to stay publicly neutral.

In an interview with People Magazine that was posted on its website Monday afternoon, Edwards said he admired Clinton’s “tenacity” but not the “old politics” she represents. While crediting Obama with sincerity in wanting “to bring about serious change and a different way of doing things,” Edwards said, “Sometimes I want to see more substance under the rhetoric.”

Michael.muskal@latimes.com

Johanna.neuman@latimes.com

Neuman reported from Washington and Muskal from Los Angeles. Staff writer Peter Nicholas, covering Obama, filed from Indiana and Noam N. Levey, following the Clinton campaign in Indiana, also contributed to this report.