Local Obama campaign volunteers and supporters left the restaurant watch party fairly optimistic, while Indiana will wait overnight to see the final results. Currently 95% of precincts are reporting, and Clinton leads 51% to Obama’s 49%.

Local volunteers cleared out of Opie Taylor’s as they watched on TV as Hillary began her acceptance speech in Indianapolis around 10:30 p.m. However, most TV networks have still deemed it “too close to call” in Indiana and results will likely continue to come in throughout the night. No matter who wins Indiana, supporters have remained optimistic as Obama still has a sizeable delegate lead and the North Carolina win certainly carries more weight. Some think he still has a chance to seize victory in Indiana as votes continue to be counted in Lake and Union counties.

Check for more updates tomorrow as we hear the final Indiana results.

While addressing a crowd of suppporters in North Carolina, Obama said that in Indiana the victory appeared to be Hillary’s.

At Opie Taylor’s in Bloomington, many local Obama follwers still watch as the margin has narrowed to 52% Clinton, 48% Obama with 82% reporting. Many are hoping for Obama votes from areas that have yet to report, including larger metro areas like Gary and Lafayette, Ind.

After winning North Carolina, Obama addressed a crowd while the local supporters here gathered around 5+ televisions cheering and chanting “Yes We Can” periodically. Local volunteers, many IU students, beamed with admiration as the Democratic hopeful stressed more of the ideals he mentioned at a speech at IU last week, including hard work and equal opportunity for all. “They are not liberal values, they are not conservative values, they are American values,” Obama said. “I love this country too much to see it divided and distracted at this critical moment in history. I know the promise of America because I have lived it.”

Rose Byrne, a local Obama volunteer who will be a senior at IU in the fall, began crying during Obama’s speech when he talked about pulling troops out of Iraq. Just this afternoon Rose found out a friend of hers from high school died while serving in Iraq. “I didn’t really wanna go home and mourn it. I wanted to knock on doors and get someone in office who would change it,” she said. “It’s time to question why we’re there.”

In Indiana, the margin is slim between Clinton, with 53%, and Obama with 47%. 57 percent of the precints are reporting.

The New York Times is reporting in Monroe County that Obama is leading 66% to Hillary’s 34%.

The Obama crowd is extremely energetic, many drinking beer and cheering loudly everytime Obama edges closer into Hillary’s lead. Many have begun a second “Yes We Can” chant.

I was speaking with a man named Larry Friedman who is a professor at both IU and Harvard and works for Obama’s campaign in several states. He was quick to praise the young student volunteers who have worked to support Obama. “These are the heroes- people your age,” he said. He added it reminded him of the 1960s. “(It’s) the same thing I felt in the 60s with Kennedy,” he said. “Sort of a magic charisma that we can somehow make change.”

MSNBC and CNN are both reporting that Barack Obama has likely won the Democratic primary in North Carolina.

As soon as the news broke, about 100 of Obama’s volunteers gathered at Opie Taylor’s began screaming, cheering and chanting “Yes We Can.”

I’m at Opie Taylor’s where local Obama volunteers and campaign staff have gathered to eat, drink and wait for results of the Indiana Democratic primary.

The polls are closed in Indiana but since parts of Indiana are in the Central time zone, it will take a little longer for results to come. Only 3 percent of precincts are reporting, giving Clinton an early lead 61% to 39%.

I’ve been speaking with volunteers here including Duane Sheets, a Monroe County resident who has been a volunteer for the past 3 weeks for Obama and put in almost 100 total hours of work, mostly helping register voters and shuttling people without cars to the polls. He said he’s been following elections for the last 50 years and compared Barack Obama to John F. Kennedy, adding that he thinks Obama exceeds Kennedy because his approach is refreshingly different.

“Issues are constantly in flux for me,” he said. “What matters is what candidate has the most integrity. For me, no contest.”

He said he expects the results tonight for Indiana to be “extremely tight.” Supporters and volunteers for the local campaign are pouring in.

Now we wait.

I’ll be blogging live tonight from Barack Obama’s local headquarters starting around 6 p.m. There will likely be a private party where local volunteers and supporters will be watching results come in at Opie Taylor’s. We’ll be updating the Web throughout the night to let you know where Obama stands and how supporters feel this will affect the national stage.

 An interesting story in the NY Times mentions that Hillary will be in Indy tonight while Obama waits in Raleigh, NC for results to come in. This may be an indication of where the two candidates expect wins. You can read it here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/us/politics/06dems.html