Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama won the Georgia Democratic primary, beating opponent Hillary Rodham Clinton thanks to support from the state's large black population and an increased showing among white and female voters.

FOX News projected former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as the winner of the GOP race.

"Our time has come, our movement is real and change is coming to America," Obama told an enthusiastic throng of supporters on Tuesday night.

National campaign spokesman Bill Burton said Obama's victory "was achieved through a broad coalition of voters."

"He not only increased his support among African American voters since South Carolina, but he dramatically improved his standing among white voters," said Burton.

Obama's support among black voters jumped from 78 percent in South Carolina to 86 percent in Georgia; among white voters, it spiked from 24 percent in South Carolina to 43 percent in Georgia.

And he gained a lot of backing from women.

"The win in Georgia tonight is Barack's strongest showing among female voters of any contest so far," Burton said, adding that he captured 64 percent of the vote among women in Georgia compared with 54 percent in South Carolina.

Blacks comprise about half of the Democratic primary vote in Georgia and surveys of people as they left polling places showed they lined up overwhelmingly behind Obama, an Illinois senator seeking to become the nation's first black president.

"Obama is just better because he makes people, like myself, get up and want to do something positive," said Felix Omigie, a 42-year-old truck driver from Riverdale. "I can see that he is trying to tap more into the younger generation. He can relate to them."

On the Republican side, U.S. Sen. John McCain, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Huckabee were locked in a tight three-way contest when polls closed at 7 p.m. and through much of the evening.

Obama had cultivated black support in the state, speaking from the pulpit of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s church the day before the federal holiday honoring the slain civil right leader's birthday. But Clinton made him work for the win. The former first lady had the backing of prominent black leaders such as U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights hero, and former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young.

Many voters in Georgia said Tuesday they were moved by Obama's message more than his skin color.

"I didn't want to vote for Obama just because he was black," said Jacqueline Jenkins, a 42-year-old administrative assistant and part-time college student who voted outside Albany. "I didn't want to vote for Hillary just because she's a woman. I think both bring a lot to the table. I just think Obama would be a better choice."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.