Among the winners: the fewer than 40 voting members of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People -- an organization that, since its mid-20th century glory days, has been declared dead or irrelevant many times by many people.

The 73-year-old political action committee scored an almost clean sweep. All but one of the state and local candidates it endorsed emerged as leaders or winners in the Durham County vote.

Thousands of new or infrequent voters, drawn to the polls by enthusiasm for Barack Obama (who got 75 percent of the Democratic primary vote), apparently grabbed the Committee's slate card on the way in and cast their ballots accordingly.

Later in the week, the questions persisted: Is the Committee back in power? Do members of its inner circle call the shots as effectively as in the old days? Or did they merely benefit from a one-time opportunity presented by Obama's name at the top of the ticket?

"Barack had some coattails, and I think a lot of people benefited from that," said Mayor Bill Bell. "There's no question in my mind that the presidential primary drove African-American voters to the polls."

In addition to backing Obama, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue for governor and state Sen. Kay Hagan in her campaign for U.S. Senate, the Committee supported one-time county commissioner Joe W. Bowser, who, as a lame duck after losing a re-election bid in 2004, led a racially split effort to fire Durham's county manager.

The group also backed school board hopeful Jonathan R. Alston, a low-profile campaigner who had far less experience in Durham's public schools compared to his two opponents, Nancy Cox and Leigh Bordley.

Bowser won one of the five commissioner slots. Alston finished first in the race for an at-large seat on the school board, though he and Bordley will meet again in a run-off June 24.

Bowser and Alston, both of whom raised little money, partially credited the support of the Durham Committee for their success.

"Nobody thought I would do as well as I did, considering the endorsements, the money -- everything," Alston said. "Sometimes, God puts things in place."

Lavonia Allison, president of the Durham Committee, did not return calls seeking comment on the committee's endorsements.

The Rev. Carl Kenney, a former member of the Durham Committee, said he believed Alston and Bowser were boosted solely by their endorsements by the Durham Committee.

Committee member Jackie Wagstaff, also one of Alston's top campaigners, disagreed.

"Over the years, the committee had a political stronghold on Durham," said Wagstaff, a former member of the school board. "Now people are more politically savvy. They don't need someone to stand at the polls and tell them who to elect."

The only loss for the Committee this week was in Fred Foster Jr., who fell short of becoming a commissioner by about 800 votes. Newcomer Brenda Howerton, who was not endorsed by the Committee, slid into the fifth seat on the endorsement of the People's Alliance, the Independent Weekly, and through "hard, hard work," she said.

The Committee's endorsement also gave a boost to Tracey Cline, winner of the Democratic primary for district attorney. With no Republicans running, Cline's election in November will be a mere formality.

Cline ran a campaign based on moving beyond the Duke lacrosse case and shifting the focus to the juvenile- and gang-crime in the city. She prevailed handily over three Democratic challengers

At her victory party, she said she thought the voters had done their homework.

Cline, the chief assistant district attorney, received the endorsements of the Independent Weekly, the Herald-Sun and the People's Alliance, in addition to the Committee.

"If you get the Committee and the People's Alliance, that's usually an unbeatable combination," said Bill Cotter, a lawyer in Durham. "They have large constituencies and they vote."

James D. "Butch" Williams, a lawyer and Cline supporter, said Cline sailed to victory, in part, because of the high turnout for Obama.

"The Obama-Clinton factor, with everybody who was keen on the political situation today, as well as the other statewide races, also helped Tracey tremendously."

Kenney, a columnist for the Independent Weekly, and others have declared in recent years that the Committee's influence with black voters is waning. Others, however, say it's still strong -- its presence just ebbs and flows.

"You could ask the very same questions of the People's Alliance and the Friends of Durham," said Milton Jordan, a long-time Durham resident and freelance journalist. "There are some political folk in the community that resent the fact that they have not been able, as [political action committees] themselves, to have the kind of influence the Committee has had. Why should they? That's audacity -- the Committee has been doing this since the 1930s."

(News researchers Denise J. Jones and Brooke Cain contributed to this report.)