Obama in striking distance of nomination as Clinton loans herself money to keep up campaign

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Returns from 99 percent of North Carolina precincts showed Obama winning 56 percent of the vote to Clinton's 42 percent, mirroring his earlier victories in southern states with large black populations.

In Indiana, she eked out a win with a margin of 51 percent to 49 percent, with 99 percent of the precincts there reporting _ a margin of little more than 22,000 votes out of more than 1.2 million cast. The outcome there was not clear for more than six hours after the polls closed, the uncertainty stemming from slow counting in Lake County near Obama's home city of Chicago.

Obama won at least 94 delegates and Clinton at least 75 in the two states combined, with 18 still to be divided between the two candidates. Overall, his delegate total reached 1,840.5 to 1,684 for Clinton in The Associated Press count, out of 2,025 needed to win the nomination.

But with only 217 delegates at stake in the remaining contests, it is essentially mathematically impossible for either candidate to secure the necessary number of elected delegates _ making superdelegate support the linchpin to winning the nomination.

``There is an eagerness in the party to get this done and move on,'' said David Axelrod, chief Obama strategist. ``There is no question that we can see the finish line.''

The protracted and often bitter nature of the race has hardened divisions in the party, according to exit polls from the two states. A solid majority of each candidate's supporters said they would not be satisfied if the other candidate wins the nomination.

Fully one-third of Clinton's supporters in Indiana and North Carolina went beyond mere dissatisfaction to say they would vote for McCain instead of Obama if that is the choice in the fall.

Clinton, in assurances echoed by Obama, declared she would support the Democratic nominee ``no matter what happens.''

The win Tuesday was a crucial turnaround for Obama, who had stunned the political establishment by winning 11 consecutive contests in February. But he repeatedly failed to knock a resurgent Clinton out of the race, as she won major primaries in March and April.

Some Democrats worried whether his defeats indicated that he could not attract the white, working-class voters needed for their party to win the White House.

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