WINSTON-SALEM, N.C Waiting in line for a Barack Obama town hall meeting the other day, Luci Vaughn was asked how she'd feel if Hillary Rodham Clinton were to become the Democratic nominee, courtesy of the party's unelected superdelegates.</p><p>"You want to see total unhappiness?" the 62-year-old African-American said. "I don't believe you can write how unhappy I'd be."</p><p>Would Vaughn be unhappy enough to withhold her backing from Clinton in November?</p><p>"No," she replied. "I'm a Democrat, for one, and it's the Democratic Party's time. We've had enough of the other side. I'd have to vote for her because she'd be all that's left. But my candidate, Barack Obama, is absolutely the best."</p><p>As the Democratic primary season winds down - with the last big day of voting set for Tuesday in North Carolina and Indiana - party leaders are increasingly worried about the potentially damaging consequences of whatever way the tight Obama-Clinton battle gets resolved.</p><p>Of particular concern is whether African-Americans might abandon the Democratic ticket en masse if they thought superdelegates unfairly deprived Obama of the presidential nomination. Almost any defection among the party's most loyal constituency, no matter how modest, could doom its hopes of winning the White House.</p><p>Black votes also are critical to the outcome in North Carolina, a must-win primary for Obama in which his once-substantial lead over Clinton has fallen into single digits.</p><p>Obama is counting on a strong black turnout on Tuesday - that could amount to one-third of the electorate - to help him record his first significant primary win in nearly three months.</p><p>But what happens after the primaries? Last week in three North Carolina cities, Winston-Salem, Wilmington and Wilson, three dozen African-Americans who are backing Obama were asked about several scenarios.</p><p>The results of this unscientific survey were as follows:</p><p>The vast majority said they'd vote for Clinton in the fall - if she became the nominee - with varying degrees of reluctance.</p><p>Quite a few said they wouldn't be surprised if the superdelegates awarded the nomination to Clinton in the end, unless Obama wins both North Carolina and Indiana. They say that even though Obama leads in total delegates and popular votes and has been gaining superdelegate support.</p><p>"The people in charge always have a back door," said James Grace, 63, who runs a construction business in Winston-Salem.</p><p>While sensitive to the role of race in American politics, most expressed optimism that Obama, if nominated, would get enough white votes to win the general election.</p><p>"There's still racism, but I think we have come so far in this country," said Felicia Toomer, 39, a child care worker in Wilmington. "This election will be about Americans voting for change, and Obama speaks to change absolutely."</p><p>A few of those interviewed did say that they would see the selection of Clinton as an unforgiveable act of betrayal by the Democratic Party.</p><p>"I'd be done with the Democratic Party, done, done, done," said Wanda Coston, 54, of Wilmington, a community development planner, adding that she'd sit out the election rather than vote for Republican John McCain. "I know that I'd be just one less vote for the party. But I'd never go back again."</p><p>Ethan Wall, 23, a student and employee at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, expressed similar views.</p><p>"It would rip the Democratic Party apart at the seams," Wall said. "A whole lot of young people who got involved, who thought they'd be able to make a difference, would feel disenfranchised."