Click here to read a summary of today's primaries on RTÉ.ie/USElection
Polls have opened in the US states of Indiana and North Carolina in two of most crucial contests left in the drawn-out Democratic party presidential primary.
Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are neck-and-neck in most opinion polls in Indiana, while Mr Obama leads in North Carolina.
Indiana is seen as the last, hotly contested major state in the ongoing race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Most opinion polls show Senator Clinton marginally ahead of Senator Obama.
In North Carolina, Barack Obama is leading by an average of seven points. Senator Clinton has cut into a once double-digit lead enjoyed there by Senator Obama in the past few weeks.
Senator Obama has been dogged by controversy surrounding his former pastor while Senator Clinton has been defending her plan to temporarily lift a federal petrol tax which the Obama campaign calls a 'gimmick'.
These two primaries are widely seen as a crucial opportunity for Mrs Clinton to show the party's undecided super delegates that she is the right candidate to take on John McCain in November.
