They are hand counting the absentee ballots in Lake County, Indiana where Gary is situated. The networks are waiting for those results to call the race.

One million votes are in and HIllary leads 52% to 48%. Fox's Britt Hume says they know what is going on they just aren't ready to say so.

Obama's lead in North Carolina right now is 14%.

This is an open thread for all thoughts on tonight's primary results and the Democratic nomination.

Of course, he said her "apparent" win, but I think it was a concession.

Is anyone watching Obama? He's speakng now.

9:41 pm: Indiana vote: Almost 950,000 votes in, Hillary has 52%, Obama 48%. Fox and CNN still have not called it.

Comments now closed, new threads are up.

Our servers crashed for a half hour or so. We're back now.

Update: 830,000 votes are in and Fox and CNN are still not calling it. Hillary now has 53% of the vote. Gary (Lake County) is not in. I don't agree that Gary, Indiana makes the difference between a win and a loss. We'll see.

Let's continue. In Indiana, more than 650,000 votes are in and Hillary is holding her 54%, 8 point lead.

CBS has called Indiana for Hillary Clinton. The media and Obama's campaign are focused on North Carolina, the outcome of which was never in doubt. They are trying to make it sound like Hillary's votes are Rush Limbaugh generated.

Hillary got 59% of the white vote in North Carolina according to the exit polls. David Axlerod claims Obama got 65% of the white voters under age 65. Can both of those be correct? [Comments now closed.]

(BTD) The NC exits. Obama wins. Whites (63%) go Clinton by 59-36 (5% missing?). African Americans (33%) go Obama by 93-7.

4% of the vote is missing from this exit poll. Right now it shows 55-39.

Comments now closed.

Update: 450,000 votes in, Hillary still at 56%. CNN's Indiana exit polls are here.

Update: 8:00 pm ET: 400,00 votes in, Hillary now at 56%. I'm back on CNN since Fox went to pundits.

Update: 350,000 votes in and Hillary is still leading 57% to 43%. Why won't they call it for Hillary? They will tell us after the commercial. I'll tell you right now: Indianapolis only partially in and Gary isn't in at all. But, neither is South Bend, and that one I think will go to Hillary.

Update: I just dumped CNN for Fox. I won't go near MSNBC. 280,000 votes in, Hillary still at 57%, Obama 43%. The CNN county map is here. Neither Indianapolis nor Gary is in yet.

More...

CNN calls North Carolina for Obama as soon as the polls closed. I'm still following Indiana, as i think that's the more important state for Hillary Clinton, but I'll post results here. You can keep each other updated in comments.

BTD will do a separate thread with new exit poll data from N.C.

(BTD) - The Indiana exit polls are up. I'll blog about them here.

Clinton won (45%) Men 51-49, (55%) Women 53-47, Whites (81%) 60-40. Lost African Americans (15%) 8-92. According to this, Clinton won Indiana by 4.

Obama does better in Indiana for one reason, African Americans came out strong. Demography remains political destiny. Let's see what the last numbers say.

Update: All polls close in 3 minutes. I'll start a second results thread. 62,000 votes in, Hillary at 59%. Obama is ahead in one county, Allen. Maps here.

Update: 46,000 votes in, Hillary 61%, Obama 39%.

Update: 40,000 votes in. Hillary now at 60%, Obama 40%. They may include some Indianapolis returns as Wolf Blitzer said a few minutes ago some just came in. 2% of vote. Hillary ahead in every county reporting so far, about 15 of them.

Update: 38,000 votes in, Hillary 61%, Obama 39%.

Update: First results, Hillary 66%, Obama 34%, less than 1% or 4,000 votes in. Hillary is winning rural Clinton county and five others. Very small counties. Now, Hillary 63%, Obama 37%, around 9,000 votes.

The first polls have closed in Indiana. The rest close in one hour. Maps are here.

I'll put the first returns here, along with new exit polling data. More below.

Update: First polls in Indiana close in 4 minutes. I'll start a new thread.

Update: CNN exit polls: Liberal Dems are going for Obama, conservative for Dems for Hillary.

Update: 200,000 new voters in Indiana. No voting problems. Economy is most important issue, 54% of them going for Clinton. North Carolina: No voting problems. Dem. Party Chair Jerry Meek says Obama will win by single digits.

Update: CNN: Hillary's support among African American voters in both states in single digits. She's getting 8% in Indiana and 6% in North Carolina. ABC report on early exit polls here.

Fox has the exit polls in hand. I'll live blog: Working class vote: In both states they are going for Hillary. Indiana, 65% white voters no college for Hillary, 34% for Obama. NC 67% of this group for Hillary.

More....

I asked this morning how our expectations will change throughout the day as we hear from anchors, surrogates and pundits. Your early predictions are here. What do you say now? Let's hear your afternoon predictions for both states, with point spreads.

One winner from each prediction thread will get a present from TalkLeft (I'll have to figure out a fair way to choose if there's a tie.)

An Indiana poll is below, you can still vote here in the North Carolina poll. [More...]

The Obama camp wants you to believe this election boils down to pledged delegates. It does not. It comes down to the superdelegates.

Here's my view: If by June 3, Hillary can come within 100 pledged delegates of Obama, including those she won in Florida (leaving Michigan aside for the minute) and her popular vote total is close to or exceeds Obama's (including Florida and Michigan), the superdelegates can decide based on who they think is more electable against John McCain in November without fearing they are overturning the will of the people.

It's the superdelegates' duty, not just their perogative, to consider a variety of factors, only one of which is the pledged delegate total.

So don't get sidetracked by the pledged delegate discussion. It won't even be a deciding factor if on June 3, after the last state has voted, Hillary has less, but not a lot less of pledged delegates. It won't matter if her popular vote total, including the 2.3 million who voted in Florida and Michigan, approximates, equals or exceeds Obama's.

If Hillary wins Indiana tonight, she'll continue. And the superdelegates will decide the nomination, based on their consciences and their prioritizing of the various factors, of which pledged delegates is one, popular vote is another and electability in November is a third.

Bump and Update: What to look for in Indiana: How well Obama does in three areas, Gary which is 85% African American with a total population of 100,000; Indianapolis, which is 25% black and has a population of 780,000, and the college towns, particularly Bloomington. For Hillary, check the turnout along the Western side of the state under the northern counties and St. Joseph County with South Bend which has a lot of Catholics-- and a population of 265,000.

Here are the official voter registration stats for Indiana as of April 30. Unfortunately, they are not broken down by county.

Politico reports on early turnout: [More...]