At a Young Democrat convention in Research Triangle Park, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, one of the party's rising stars, said Obama essentially has won the primary race because of his lead in delegates, but he stopped short of saying Clinton should drop out.  "North Carolina is a perfect place to add an exclamation point onto a sentence that I think has already been written," he told reporters.

Political commentator James Carville, a supporter of Clinton's campaign, said at the same event that he has heard from Democratic voters that they want the race to continue at least until the state's May 6 primary so that their voices can be heard. "What's so awful about having a primary here in North Carolina?" he said.

The ongoing Democratic nomination fight brought new interest to the annual daylong convention of activists ages 18 to 35. Nearly 600 Democrats, a high in recent years, and a host of party candidates for statewide office came to the Sheraton Imperial Hotel for the event. By Ryan Beckworth and Matt Tomsic

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