CNN) -- New York Sen. Hillary Clinton claimed the biggest prize of Super Tuesday's Democratic primaries with a win in California, CNN projected, while Sen. Barack Obama rode high in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain states.

Clinton took a strong early lead in California, with exit polls finding extensive support for the former first lady from women, Latino voters and blue-collar Democrats concerned about the economy. A total of 441 Democratic delegates will be chosen from the state, divided proportionally under party rules.

More than four-fifths of the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination were at stake in contests across 24 states and American Samoa, but neither candidate appeared to land a knockout blow.

California -- where 441 Democratic delegates will be chosen -- was the biggest prize of the night, and exit polls indicated a close race between Clinton and Obama there. As polls closed on the West Coast, Clinton congratulated Obama and said the campaign would go on.

Clinton, the former first lady, was forecast to win her home state and neighboring New Jersey -- as well as Massachusetts, where the state's two senators and governor had endorsed Obama.

"I look forward to continuing our campaign and our debates about how to leave this country better off for the next generation, because that is the work of my life," Clinton told supporters at her headquarters in New York, Tuesday night. Watch Sen. Clinton talk to her supporters

CNN projected Clinton would win her home state of New York and neighboring New Jersey -- as well as Massachusetts, where the state's two senators and governor had endorsed Obama.

She also was forecast to win primaries in Arkansas, where her husband was governor for more than a decade, and neighboring Oklahoma and Tennessee.

But CNN projected Obama would win two Deep South states, Alabama and Georgia, with overwhelming African-American support despite early endorsements of Clinton by many black officials. And he won caucuses across Midwestern and Rocky Mountain states with mostly white populations -- Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, North Dakota and Kansas.

Obama also was projected to win primaries in Utah, Delaware, Connecticut and Illinois, which sent him to the U.S. Senate in 2004.

"The votes are still being counted in cities and towns across America," Obama told supporters in Chicago. "But there is one thing on this February night that we do not need the final results to know: Our time has come. Our movement is real. And change is coming to America."