May 6, 2008 Voters head to poll in North Carolina and Indiana Play video

(NECN/ABC) - Voters in North Carolina and Indiana go to the polls on Tuesday. Usually the primaries in those state don't matter, but today, they do. At stake are 187 delegates.

ABC News reporter Lindsey Davis is in Indianapolis with the story.

SCRIPT: Indiana is practically synonymous with basketball.

And if Senator Barack Obama's skills on the court are any indication of Tuesday's primary-expect a close game but no slam dunks.

Barack Obama stated, "I think our chances are good. I mean we've had a good week of campaigning. We're working as hard as we can and I desperately want every vote here in Indiana and in North Carolina."

It is a full court press in the Hoosier and Tar Heel states. First he was ahead then she took the lead.

But neither contender is running away with anything.

"We have everything at stake in this election. I believe with all my heart I am the strongest candidate and the best one to take John McCain in the fall!"

Its been 4 decades since Indiana-the crossroads of America-has found itself in the crosshairs of political battle.

Gordon St Angelo, once the head of Indiana's democratic party, remembers how contentious things got in 1968 when the democratic ticket wasn't decided until the convention in Chicago. He says the issue then in Indiana was religion. Today, he says it's the other r word--race.

"There are still 3 or 4 percent who say they voted for Barack Obama when actually they didn't."

Democrats

"I think Hillary Clinton will win it by a small margin 3 percent maybe race will play a role."

In every Democratic presidential primary since 1972, the candidate who won Ohio, also won Indiana. Polls open in North Carolina at 6:30 AM and here in Indiana at 6 oclock.