Mixed results from North Carolina and Indiana yesterday mean the Democratic presidential race will continue, but along a road that appears to offer diminishing traction for the tenacious but trailing campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Sen. Barack Obama won a big victory in North Carolina, dashing Mrs. Clinton's hopes for what she called "a game-changer" in the protracted competition.

"But today, what North Carolina decided is that the only game that needs changing is the one in Washington, D.C.," Mr. Obama said to the cheers of his supporters in his election night headquarters in Raleigh, N.C. "Tonight we stand less than 200 delegates away from winning the Democratic nomination for president of the United States."

Mrs. Clinton eked out a win in Indiana after a late night in which her slender lead grew thinner as the counting went on. Finally as the results from Lake County, an Obama stronghold near Chicago, came in, her victory in the smaller of the two states seemed secure.

Nonetheless, the net of the two contests left Mr. Obama with an expanded lead in delegates and in the cumulative popular vote.

A handful of relatively smaller remaining contests, starting with West Virginia next week, offer opportunities for both candidates. But none represent a major prize likely to alter the dynamics of the race.

It was the first good Tuesday night for the Obama campaign in weeks. His major loss in Pennsylvania two weeks ago and in Ohio six weeks before that was followed by bruises inflicted by renewed controversy over his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Those setbacks, along with some of the findings of yesterday's exit polls, suggested continuing vulnerabilities for the Obama campaign, but last night he spoke like a candidate with the nomination in sight.

"Tonight, many of the pundits have suggested that this party is inalterably divided -- that Sen. Clinton's supporters will not support me, and that my supporters will not support her,'' he said.

"Well, I'm here tonight to tell you that I don't believe it. Yes, there have been bruised feelings on both sides. Yes, each side desperately wants their candidate to win. But ultimately, this race is not about Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama or John McCain. This election is about you -- the American people -- and whether we will have a president and a party that can lead us toward a brighter future."

Mrs. Clinton, in a statement delayed while the close Indiana counting left the state in the balance, declared that her long-shot quest would continue.

"Tonight we've come from behind, we've broken the tide, and thanks to you, it's full speed on to the White House,'' she told supporters in an Indianapolis ballroom.

The last week of the twin campaigns had been dominated by Mrs. Clinton's call for a federal gas tax holiday and her opponent's derision of the idea as a political gimmick. Mrs. Clinton embraced the proposal anew last night, as an emblem of her championing of the middle class.

In common with Mr. Obama, she predicted a united Democratic Party in the fall. "No matter what happens we will work for the nominee of the Democratic Party,'' she said, "because we must win in November.''

Mr. Obama's election night remarks were focused more on Mr. McCain than on his Democratic opponent, and they struck notes that his campaign can be counted on to sound again and again as it seeks to shore up some of the weaknesses bared in his struggle against Mrs. Clinton.

He emphasized patriotic themes amid a campaign in which conservative Internet chatter, along with the incendiary remarks of the Rev. Wright, had made him a target for potshots on his own attitudes toward flag and country.

"I love this country too much to see it divided and distracted at this moment in history. I believe in our ability to perfect this union because it's the only reason I'm standing here today. And I know the promise of America because I have lived it," he said.

Exit polls showed a continuing racial divide in the Democratic electorate as more than nine of ten black voters favored Mr. Obama while three in five white voters favored Mrs. Clinton.

Just under half of the voters in the Indiana primary said that the Wright issue had been a factor in their voting, and those who said it had been a factor broke heavily in Mrs. Clinton's favor. Once again, as in earlier primaries, the New York senator ran well ahead of Mr. Obama among women and working class whites.

The Indiana exit survey also suggested that roughly half of Mrs. Clinton's supporters would vote for Mr. McCain in the fall, while a much smaller proportion of the Obama voters said they'd cross party lines.

After West Virginia next Tuesday, the candidates will prepare for another double-header the following week as Kentucky and Oregon voters go to the polls.

That had the potential for another split result in that Mrs. Clinton is favored in the border states while Mr. Obama has found consistent leads in the polling in Oregon. Those demographically disparate states were virtually equal in Democratic convention strength -- Oregon awards 52 delegates and Kentucky, 51.

Puerto Rico's June 1 primary, with 55 delegates at stake, is seen as strength for Mrs. Clinton. Two days later the primary trail ends as Montana and South Dakota goes to the polls.

Mrs. Clinton used part of her election night spotlight for an appeal to supporters to continue to donate to her campaign. She also renewed her demand that the votes from Michigan and Florida, in limbo because of the states' flouting of party rules, be counted and their delegates seated at the party convention.

While her cash-strapped campaign needs those resources to compete in the remaining primaries, the more important audience for both campaigns now is the superdelegates that either would need to achieve a nominating majority in Denver. Mrs. Clinton and her aides will continue to use selective exit poll results to bolster their argument that she is the more electable Democrat in the fall.

So far, those entreaties haven't been successful.

Mrs. Clinton retains a superdelegate lead based on commitments made before the first caucus and primary voters were cast but Mr. Obama, in a trend that has continued in recent weeks, has been winning the majority of superdelegates who have made their decisions this year.

Last night's results did nothing to change that trend.