RALEIGH, NC — I just spoke to a handful of Barack Obama supporters after his speech here, and they were obviously enthusiastic about tonight’s results. They had mixed views on whether Hillary Clinton should drop out, but what was most striking to me was that none of them would seriously entertain the possibility that Obama could be denied the nomination at this point.

And for good reason. Given his strong victory in North Carolina and the close results in Indiana, it’s hard to see any way that superdelegates would hand the nomination to Clinton. She may hang on for the next few weeks until the primary season officially wraps up, but with no big states left, how can she win over any superdelegates she hasn’t already?

In his speech, Obama clearly was looking toward the general election, including a section on the importance of party unity, and some sharp barbs at John McCain.

I am working on a longer piece on the results, so will check out for now, but one other thing worth noting is that in his speech Obama congratulated Clinton on her “victory” in Indiana even though, an hour later, she the networks still haven’t called the state for her. Does he know something we don’t?