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By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer
Wed May 7, 1:16 AM ET
 
RALEIGH, N.C. - Barack Obama called his North Carolina primary win on Tuesday a victory against the “politics of division and the politics of distraction.”

The Illinois senator claimed a strong victory in the Southern state to steady a campaign rocked by missteps and a hard-charging rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Obama told North Carolina supporters in Raleigh that he was able to overcome negative politicking that is all about scoring points and not about solving problems. He said Americans “aren’t looking for more spin; they’re looking for honest answers.”

With his wife Michelle looking on, Obama savored his victory in North Carolina and called attention to claims by the Clinton campaign that the North Carolina race would be a “game-changer.”

“But today, what North Carolina decided is that the only game that needs changing is the one in Washington, DC.,” said the first-term Illinois senator.

Clinton won narrowly in Indiana, the only other state that voted on Tuesday, and Obama acknowledged that there were “bruised feelings on both sides” in the marathon fight for the Democratic nomination. “Each side desperately wants their candidate to win.”

Still, he said, “This fall, we intend to march forward as one Democratic Party, united by a common vision for this country.”

“We can’t afford to give John McCain the chance to serve out George Bush’s third term,” he said.

Obama’s team had expected to win comfortably in North Carolina — after all, that’s one reason they held their election-watch party here. But they also hoped for a come-from-behind win in Indiana. An Obama win in both states could have derailed Clinton’s comeback chances.

Obama’s forces sought to make as much as possible of the Obama victory in North Carolina, while turning their attention to upcoming contests in Oregon, West Virginia and Kentucky. He was returning to Chicago after the celebration.

Answering charges that he was having trouble winning in big states that will be important in the general election, Obama characterized his North Carolina win as “a victory in a big state, a swing state, and a state where we will compete to win if I am the Democratic nominee for president of the United States.”

North Carolina is the nation’s 10th largest state in population.

Earlier Tuesday, Obama was asked about the difficulty he has had in connecting with blue-collar workers, particularly white men, in states in the industrial Midwest like Indiana that will be important in the fall elections.

“It’s really a mixed bag,” he said. “There’ve been some states where we have won the blue-collar vote. Wisconsin. We won it in Iowa. We won it in Minnesota. Then there are other states where we’ve not done so well, mainly because people are much more familiar with Senator Clinton and President Clinton and their track record.”

“You have to give them credit. They’re the best established brand name in Democratic politics, maybe in politics overall. They’ve been on the scene for 20 years. They’re not going to go down easy.”

Robert Gibbs, Obama’s communications director, conceded it had been “a pretty tough two or three weeks for the Obama campaign.”

As for Tuesday’s results, Gibbs said: “It’s nothing but decidedly good news for the obama campaign.”

Obama stunned the party with early primary victories and helped undercut the aura of inevitability that Clinton brought into the race. He preached unity and put up what he said was his better judgment against Clinton’s longer experience.

But as time wore on, and as Clinton won more big-state primaries that will be crucial to Democrats in Ohio — including New York, California, Ohio and Pennsylvania — enthusiasm toward Obama cooled.

And Obama’s ties with inflammatory longtime pastor Jeremiah Wright and several missteps sowed doubts about his judgment.

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By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer
Wed May 7, 1:32 AM ET
 WASHINGTON - Sen. Barack Obama won the most delegates in Tuesday’s primaries, moving within 200 delegates of securing the Democratic nomination for president.
 
 Obama won at least 94 delegates in the North Carolina and Indiana primaries, according to an analysis of election returns by The Associated Press. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won at least 75 delegates, with 18 still to be awarded.

Sixteen of the outstanding delegates were from North Carolina and two were from Indiana.

In the overall race for the nomination, Obama led with 1,840.5 delegates, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Clinton had 1,684.

Obama was 184.5 delegates shy of the 2,025 needed to secure the Democratic nomination.

There are 217 delegates at stake in the final six contests. Also, about 270 superdelegates are yet to be claimed.

Superdelegates are the party and elected officials who will automatically attend the national convention and can support whomever they choose, regardless of what happens in the primaries and caucuses.

Obama is on pace to reach a majority of the pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses in two weeks, when Kentucky and Oregon vote. Obama had a 171-delegate lead among pledged delegates.

Obama has argued for months that superdelegates should support the candidate who wins the most pledged delegates. Clinton argues that superdelegates should exercise independent judgment.

Clinton leads in superdelegate endorsements, 270.5 to 256, though Obama has been chipping away at her lead since the Super Tuesday contests on Feb. 5. Both candidates picked up a superdelegate endorsement Tuesday.

Nearly 800 superdelegates will attend the national convention. About 220 remain undecided and about 50 others will be named at state party conventions and meetings throughout the spring.

The AP tracks the delegate races by calculating the number of national convention delegates won by candidates in each presidential primary or caucus, based on state and national party rules, and by interviewing unpledged delegates to obtain their preferences.

Most primaries and some caucuses are binding, meaning delegates won by the candidates are pledged to support that candidate at the national conventions this summer.

Political parties in some states, however, use multistep procedures to award national delegates. Typically, such states use local caucuses to elect delegates to state or congressional district conventions, where national delegates are selected. In these states, the AP uses the results from local caucuses to calculate the number of national delegates each candidate will win, if the candidate’s level of support at the caucus doesn’t change.

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 By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer
Wed May 7, 1:25 AM ET

INDIANAPOLIS - Hillary Rodham Clinton pledged to keep going full throttle for the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday even as she appealed for money to finance her gasping campaign and tried to put the best spin on a disappointing night.

Clinton lost to Barack Obama by a wide margin in North Carolina and managed only a slim win in Indiana, a victory that she held out as evidence that she still has staying power in the race.

“Tonight, we’ve come from behind. We’ve broken the tie, and thanks to you, it’s full speed on to the White House,” Clinton told hundreds of supporters in downtown Indianapolis as former President Clinton and daughter Chelsea stood by her side.

Her words aside, Tuesday clearly wasn’t what the former first lady had hoped it would be. And there were signs that she was mindful of the fragile state of her candidacy, and her dwindling options to block Obama from claiming the Democratic nomination.

Clinton made a direct fundraising appeal to backers to help her compete against Obama’s better-financed operation — unusual remarks at a victory party. Her speech seemed to lack the boisterous spirit that marked her events in the run up to Tuesday. And she didn’t linger on the “rope line,” where fans crowd her to shake hands, sign autographs and pose for pictures, after ending her speech. She spent some time greeting supporters but then quickly left the building.

“I need your help to continue our journey,” Clinton said in her speech. “This has always been your campaign, and this is your victory because your support has meant the difference between winning and losing.”

“I hope you will go to HillaryClinton.com and support our campaign,” she added.

In what was perhaps a nod to her uphill struggle to overcome Obama’s delegate lead, she noted the back-and-forth nature of the protracted fight — “I win, he wins. I win, he wins. It’s so close.” — and pledged anew that she’ll swing behind the Democratic nominee “no matter what happens.”

But she also vowed to press on for the nomination, saying: “These next primaries are another test. I will work my heart out in West Virginia and Kentucky. I intend to win them in November.”

Clinton hoped her Indiana victory would give her fresh talking points as she works to convince voters yet to cast their ballots and undecided superdelegates — elected Democratic officials — to side with her in the punishingly long nomination fight.

Obama leads in the race to rack up the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. It will be difficult — if not impossible — for Clinton to overtake him even if she manages to win a chunk of the states left to vote and convinces many of the unaligned superdelegate to break her way.

The New York senator headed back to Washington early Wednesday. Her only public appearance was an evening fundraiser. She also planned to meet privately with superdelegates who have endorsed her, which aides said was routine after a primary night.

Clinton planned to return to the campaign trail Thursday with events in at least one of the remaining states to vote.

Once the Democratic front-runner, Clinton sustained a series of losses to Obama early in the year and in the months since has been slowly clawing her way back into the thick of the race.

Over the past two months, she scored a couple of big-state wins as Obama faltered amid the controversy surrounding his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and Obama’s own comment that people from small towns cling to guns and religion because they are bitter.

Seeking to take advantage of that opportunity, Clinton retooled her campaign to focus on producing results for an anxious middle class and started aggressively courting white, working-class voters at a time of economic anxiety. With that strategy, she triumphed last month in Pennsylvania and kept her candidacy alive.

She used the same bread-and-butter message in Indiana and North Carolina, and the final days of those primaries were dominated by Clinton’s call for a summertime suspension of the federal gasoline tax.
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By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 39 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Hillary Rodham Clinton needed a game changer. Instead, it’s almost game over.
 
Barack Obama won a resounding victory in North Carolina after the worst two-week stretch in his campaign. And Clinton, fueled by a burst of energy from her convincing win in Pennsylvania last month, barely eked out a win in Indiana despite her full-throated populist appeal in that largely blue-collar state.

There are six primaries left in the Democrats’ epic battle for the nomination, but Tuesday’s results were decisive on their own: They offered Clinton her last, best chance to turn the tables on her rival, and she didn’t even come close.

“It’s bad news for Hillary Clinton, but frankly I think the game changed a long time ago,” said unaligned Democratic strategist Garry South. “Barack Obama has outraised her substantially, he’s won more states, more pledged delegates, and is ahead in the popular vote. It’s obvious he’s outperformed her.”

Indeed, Obama managed to outpace Clinton through a period that tested his mettle and political skills more than any other in the 15-month campaign. In a stretch that pitted Clinton’s gritty determination against Obama’s calm fortitude, the Illinois senator prevailed.

To be sure, Obama is still struggling to win some demographic groups, notably blue-collar white voters, who are a key component of the Democratic base.

Among whites without college degrees, Clinton outdid Obama by 64 percent to 35 percent in Indiana, and 71 percent to 26 percent in North Carolina. The New York senator and her surrogates have trumpeted that advantage, hoping to persuade the so-called superdelegates likely to decide the race will that she would be the stronger Democratic candidate in the general election.

Seeking to broaden her advantage with that group, Clinton fashioned herself as the champion of the working class, railing against Wall Street “money grubbers” and promoting a summer federal gas tax holiday widely panned by economists and many Democrats.

Obama denounced Clinton’s gas tax proposal as an unabashed pander. Clinton aides were giddy, feeling that they had drawn Obama into an argument over the economy, which has long been viewed as her strong suit.

Obama was also forced to contend with the re-emergence of his controversial former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, who made incendiary statements at a Washington press conference last week. Among other things, he suggested the U.S. government may have developed the AIDS virus to infect the black community and had invited the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Exit polls showed the Wright imbroglio did influence about half the voters in both states as they weighed which candidate to choose.

Yet none of that shook the fundamentals of the race, as the results Tuesday demonstrated. Obama remains ahead of Clinton in every measure, and the final jury — superdelegates — have been trending his way, even as he charted rough seas. His strong showing in North Carolina and Indiana will undoubtedly speed up that pace.

Clinton, meanwhile, is low on cash and her anemic performance Tuesday means she may not be able to rely on a surge in Internet fundraising that she saw after winning primaries in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Texas. She will meet with superdelegates Wednesday and attend an evening fundraiser in Washington — both key tests of her chances going forward.

She also continues to be dogged by an “honest gap” — hardly a strong suit in making the case to superdelegates that she is the more electable candidate. Exit polls in North Carolina found just 49 percent of voters believe Clinton is honest and trustworthy, compared to 71 percent for Obama. In Indiana, 54 percent said Clinton is honest, while 66 percent said Obama is.

Her aides insist she will press anew for a resolution to the disputed contests in Michigan and Florida, both of which she won, but whose results were voided because the primaries were moved in violation of Democratic Party rules.

Anticipating those efforts, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe sent a memo to superdelegates reminding them of the math. He said Clinton would need to win 68 percent of the remaining delegates to win the nomination — an extremely unlikely scenario, made harder by her poor performance Tuesday.

“With the Clinton path to the nomination getting even narrower, we expect new and wildly creative scenarios to emerge in the coming days. While those scenarios may be entertaining, the are not legitimate and will not be considered legitimate by this campaign or millions of supporters, volunteers and donors.”

At least one undecided superdelegate saw Clinton nearing the end of her game as well.

“Senator Clinton did not get out of the night what she needed,” said North Carolina Rep. Brad Miller. “To use a basketball analogy, she traded baskets. And she needed to do much better than that this late in the contest with her down 150 or 160 pledged delegates.”

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Editor’s note: Beth Fouhy covers presidential politics for The Associated Press. Associated Press Writer Nedra Pickler contributed to this story.
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By CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 5 minutes ago
 
WASHINGTON - On the rebound, Barack Obama left Hillary Rodham Clinton with fast-dwindling chances to deny him the Democratic presidential nomination after beating her in North Carolina and falling just short in an Indiana cliffhanger.

Obama was on track to climb within 200 delegates of attaining the prize, his campaign finally steadying after missteps fiercely exploited by the never-say-die Clinton.

His campaign dropped broad hints it was time for the 270 remaining unaligned party figures known as superdelegates to get off the fence and settle the nomination.

It was in that arena — even more than in the scattered primaries left — that the Democratic hyperdrama was bound to play out.

“You know, there are those who were saying that North Carolina would be a game-changer in this election,” Obama told a roaring crowd in Raleigh, N.C., on Tuesday night, referring to Clinton’s hope that an upset there would recast the race in her favor.

“But today what North Carolina decided is that the only game that needs changing is the one in Washington, D.C.”

Clinton vowed to compete tenaciously for West Virginia next week and Kentucky and Oregon after that, and to press “full speed on to the White House.”

But she risked running on fumes without an infusion of cash, and made a direct fundraising pitch from the stage in Indianapolis. “I need your help to continue our journey,” she said.

And she pledged anew that she would support the Democratic nominee “no matter what happens,” a vow also made by her competitor.

Polarizing, protracted and often bitter, the contest is hardening divisions in the party, according to exit polls from the two states.

A solid majority of each candidate’s supporters said they would not be satisfied if the other candidate wins the nomination.

Fully one-third of Clinton’s supporters in Indiana and North Carolina went beyond mere dissatisfaction to say they would vote for Republican John McCain instead of Obama if that’s the choice in the fall.

Obama scored a convincing victory of about 14 points in North Carolina, where he’d been favored. Clinton squeezed out a narrow margin in Indiana after a long night of counting.

Racial divisions were stark.

In both states, Clinton won six in 10 white votes while Obama got nine in 10 black votes, exit polls indicated.

It was a slightly better performance than usual by Clinton among whites, while Obama’s backing from blacks was one of his highest winning percentages yet with that group.

Against the backdrop of disunity, pressure is certain to intensify on the superdelegates to declare themselves and lasso Democrats together for the fall campaign against McCain. They are not bound by results in primaries or caucuses.

“There is an eagerness in the party to get this done and move on,” said David Axelrod, chief Obama strategist. “There is no question that we can see the finish line.”

David Lutz, 53, of Trinity, N.C., who lives on his Army pension and flea market sales, paid tribute to Obama’s resilience in explaining why he switched from supporting Clinton in the final days.

“I finally got swayed Obama’s way,” he said. “He’s like a magician — he pulled a lot of good tricks out of his hat.”

A look at the night’s numbers:

_Obama won at least 69 delegates and Clinton at least 63 in the two states combined, with 55 still to be divided between the two candidates.

_Obama’s delegate total reached 1815.5 to 1,672 for Clinton in The Associated Press count, out of 2,025 needed to win the nomination.

_Obama won North Carolina 56-42, with returns from 99 percent of precincts.

_Clinton won Indiana 51-49, with returns from 99 percent of precincts.

And the races still ahead:

_28 delegates at stake in West Virginia in a week.

_103 delegates up for grabs a week later in Kentucky and Oregon.

_55 in Puerto Rico on June 1.

_31 in Montana and South Dakota on June 3.

On Tuesday, Clinton fell short of the Indiana blowout and the North Carolina upset that might have jarred superdelegates into her camp in a big way.

They have continued trickling toward Obama despite the fallout over his former pastor’s racially divisive remarks and Clinton’s win in Pennsylvania two weeks ago.

Obama sounded increasingly focused on the fall campaign.

“This primary season may not be over, but when it is, we will have to remember who we are as Democrats … because we all agree that at this defining moment in history — a moment when we’re facing two wars, an economy in turmoil, a planet in peril — we can’t afford to give John McCain the chance to serve out George Bush’s third term,” he said.

Clinton was joined at her rally by her husband Bill, his face sunburned after campaigning in small-town North Carolina, and their daughter, Chelsea.

The New York senator stressed the issue that came to dominate the final days of the primaries in both states, her call for a summertime suspension of the federal gasoline tax. “I think it’s time to give Americans a break this summer,” she said.

Obama opposes the tax suspension, calling it a gimmick.

The impact of a long-running controversy over the Illinois senator’s former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was difficult to measure.

In North Carolina, six in 10 voters who said Wright’s remarks affected their votes sided with Clinton. A somewhat larger percentage of voters who said the pastor’s remarks did not matter supported Obama.

Obama and Clinton both planned to campaign in the next primary states starting Thursday, after a day in Washington. Obama headed to Chicago after his Raleigh speech before coming to the capital.

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Associated Press writers Tom Raum in Raleigh, N.C., and Liz Sidoti in Indianapolis contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON - Democrat Barack Obama said Sunday the federal government might need to rethink its support for corn ethanol because of rising food prices, a stance similar to Republican John McCain’s but at odds with farm states considered important to the November election.

“What I’ve said is my top priority is making sure people are able to get enough to eat. If it turns out we need to make changes in our ethanol policy to help people get something to eat, that has got to be the step we take,” said Obama, D-Ill., on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“We have rising food prices around the United States. In other countries, we’re seeing riots because of the lack of food supply, so this is something we’re going to have to deal with,” he said.

Last week, a group of Republican senators including McCain, R-Ariz., asked the Environmental Protection Agency to loosen congressional mandates to blend more ethanol and other renewable fuels into the gasoline supply, saying they are adding significantly to food costs. The mandates are backed by President Bush and senators representing farm states.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” agreed the issue needs closer review.

“What we need to do is accelerate the research into farm waste and into other cellulosic plant materials. Because, I think, instead of using the corn, let’s figure out if we can use the corn cob,” she said. “Let’s figure out if we can use the corn stalk. Let’s figure out what other kind of food, you know, waste we can use.”

Clinton added: “In the short run, we’ve got to work with our farmers and with like-minded people around the world to figure out how this increasing use in biofuels, which is part of our answer to our dependence on foreign oil, does not undermine food production and really accelerate the prices.”

Some top international food scientists last month recommended halting the use of food-based biofuels, such as ethanol, saying it would cut corn prices by 20 percent during a world food crisis.

Matt Hartwig, a spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association, has said the ethanol industry is exploring many other possible ethanol feedstocks, including wood chips, switchgrass, citrus waste and garbage.

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By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer
Sun May 4, 4:43 PM ET
 
NEW YORK - Two presidential candidates, two celebrity interviewers, two agendas, one audience: the undecided superdelegates likely to select the Democratic nominee.
 
Just two days before key primaries in Indiana and North Carolina, the peculiar ritual of the Sunday news show took on high drama as Obama and Clinton each made hour-long solo appearances — Obama on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and Clinton on ABC’s “This Week.” While the shows are seen by relatively few voters, they hold considerable sway among opinion leaders.

For Obama, the grilling by host Tim Russert offered an opportunity to put the uproar surrounding his former pastor behind him. For Clinton, the town hall-style appearance hosted by her husband’s one-time protegee George Stephanopoulos gave her the chance to burnish her populist message and persuade skeptical voters to like and trust her.

Coming off the toughest stretch in the primary campaign so far, Obama, the front-runner, had more to prove. After losing Pennsylvania’s primary to Clinton on April 22, the Illinois senator has been forced to contend with explosive comments made by his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. At a press conference in Washington on Monday, Wright praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and reiterated his belief that that the U.S. government may have developed the AIDS virus to infect the black community and that it had invited the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Obama denounced the remarks last week and was pressed further on that matter and other issues Sunday. Throughout it all, he was a virtual Zen master — displaying the calm self-confidence that has long made him seem both unflappable and aloof.

Russert noted that Obama already knew of some of his pastor’s anti-American statements from widely viewed snippets of Wright’s sermons on cable news and the Internet. Why did he break from Wright only after his appearance in Washington this week, Russert asked?

“I thought it was important for him to explain or at least to provide context for some of the things he said previously,” Obama said, adding that Wright’s press conference only made things worse.

“Not only did he amplify some of those comments and defend them vigorously, he added to it. He put gasoline on the fire,” Obama said. “Not only was he interested in using this platform to make statements I fundamentally disagree with and offend me, he didn’t have much regard for the moment we’re in right now in the United States.”

Obama said it was fair for voters to question his judgment in light of the Wright controversy, but he said he hoped they would do so in the context of his overall career. And he said he would remain a member at Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ, where Wright recently stepped down as pastor.

“My commitment is to Christ, not to Reverend Wright,” Obama said.

Obama showed a bit more passion when asked whether he would be vulnerable to a “Swift Boat”-style attack on his patriotism if he were to face Republican John McCain in the fall.

“I have never challenged other people’s patriotism,” he said. “I haven’t challenge Hillary Clinton’s or John McCain’s and I will not stand by and allow somebody else to challenge mine.”

He also got in a couple jabs at the former first lady, calling her proposed gas-tax holiday a “pander” and her vow to “obliterate” Iran if it attacked Israel nothing more than unhelpful bluster.

Clinton, for her part, turned in a feisty performance on “This Week” — at turns funny, combative and wonky. In contrast with Obama’s coolheaded demeanor, Clinton was at times almost overeager — wide-eyed and smiling, rejecting an on-set armchair in favor of standing and gesturing to the audience.

Taking advantage of Obama’s vulnerabilities among working-class voters, the New York senator has fashioned herself a champion of their concerns — in part by criticizing trade deals and sticking by her much-criticized proposal to lift the federal gas tax this summer.

“I think we’ve been for the last seven years seeing a tremendous amount of government power and elite opinion basically behind policies that haven’t worked well for the middle class and hardworking Americans,” Clinton said when pressed on why no prominent economists support the gas-tax holiday. “I’ll tell you what, I’m not going to put my lot in with economists.”

She stuck to her guns even as an audience member said she felt she was being “pandered to” by the gas-tax holiday plan.

Clinton insisted she had opposed NAFTA during her husband’s presidency, although there is little evidence to suggest she worked against it at the time. She even conscripted Stephanopoulos into service to support her story.

“Now, you remember this, because George did work in that ‘92 campaign, and George and I actually were against NAFTA,” Clinton said. “I’m talking about him in his previous life, before he was an objective journalist and didn’t have opinions about such matters.”

She also joked about Rush Limbaugh, saying the conservative radio host “always had a crush on me.”

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EDITOR’S NOTE — Beth Fouhy covers presidential politics for The Associated Press
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By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer
Sun May 4, 2:35 PM ET
 
WASHINGTON - The differences couldn’t be more striking — and they go well beyond older, white and Republican vs. younger, black and Democratic.

John McCain, more spontaneous and accessible, and Barack Obama, more disciplined and remote, are two unconventional presidential candidates, each with styles all their own.

Contrasts on the campaign trail run the gamut, from the way they stage events and draw crowds to how they court voters and handle reporters.

The two men even carry themselves differently.

McCain, 5-foot-9 and spry at age 71, has a ramrod posture, quick movements and clenched fists; he darts from here to there as if spurred forward by jolts of energy. The combination can make him come across as stiff, despite his remarkably informal and off-the-cuff approach.

Obama, age 46 and lanky at 6-foot-2, seems to glide, his head held high, his gait long and his arms swinging freely at his sides if not buried in pockets. His laid-back mannerisms can seem overly casual, and they belie his highly scripted and picture-perfect appearances.

The divergent personal styles and campaign approaches, particularly during the primary season, offer a glimpse of a possible matchup this fall should Obama win the Democratic nomination over Hillary Rodham Clinton and go head-to-head with McCain, the GOP nominee-in-waiting. At this point, Obama leads Clinton in pledged delegates; it is mathematically difficult for her to win.

For any candidate, mannerisms on the trail can provide insights into how one could behave in office.

Bill Clinton adored glad-handing with voters so much that the Democrat frequently ran late as a candidate; he didn’t change as president. George W. Bush was known to josh and needle campaign trail reporters; the Republican does the same with the White House media.

Now, in 2008.

JOHN MCCAIN:

The Arizona Republican, who would be the nation’s oldest man to be elected president, was arguably the most open White House candidate in modern history during the GOP primary fight.

That’s changing some now that he’s the party’s likely nominee; he’s giving more choreographed speeches behind podiums and with TelePrompTers.

Still, most of the time, McCain is incredibly unscripted. And, that can be dangerous: his mouth — and his temperament — can get him in trouble and give Democrats fodder to criticize. One instance: he jokingly sang “bomb Iran” to the tune of the Beach Boys “Barbara Ann.”

Nevertheless, McCain still favors the low-key give-and-take of a town-hall style setting. He prefers to be on the same level as his audience and grimaces under the glare of lights. His only prop is typically a microphone, cordless so he can wander — or pace — in front of his audience and venture into the aisles to hand it to folks.

Witty and quick, he often opens events with a couple of jokes, not all funny. He gives a synopsis of where he stands on issues, a policy-laden monologue setting the stage for a policy-laden discussion thereafter. He tells his crowds to ask anything, calls on people one by one and encourages them to challenge his point of view.

“Follow-ups are allowed,” he says, and prods: “Go ahead.”

When people stand up and praise his heroism in Vietnam, the former prisoner of war thanks them — and then quickly asks if they have a question. When protesters shout out, McCain puts them on the spot and creates a mini-debate atmosphere.

“Just a couple more. Just a couple more,” McCain always pleads when an aide tries to end the questioning. He usually gets his way. And then, when the mike is off, he wades into his audience, shaking hands, and chatting people up. They don’t fawn over him, but simply offer words of respect and gratitude for his years of service.

Even now, as he segues into the general election, his venues are intimate — community centers, Veterans of Foreign Wars halls. That’s partly out of preference, partly out of necessity; his crowds are far smaller and less energetic than those of his Democratic rivals.

After events, McCain almost always takes media questions. Then, it’s back to his bus, where McCain parks himself in a leather captain’s chair with a scrum of reporters squeezed in around him, balancing their tape recorders on his knees. He’ll spend hours talking with them about anything, sometimes leaving reporters with little else to ask and the candidate pushing: “What else? What else?”

Recently, McCain has spent more time on his plane, and the tighter, louder quarters have limited his access. He says he’s not happy about it: “It’s a lot more fun on the bus.”

BARACK OBAMA:

The Illinois Democrat, competing to be the first black president, has generated an enormous following unseen in decades for a presidential candidate. His appearances tend to be carefully planned. The approach can invite criticism that he’s all style and little substance, as well as raise questions about whether he’s ready to be in the hot seat.

Giant outdoor rallies, rain or shine, and sprawling events at indoor arenas to accommodate thousands upon thousands have tended to be the norm, with an occasional question-and-answer event for voters.

That was the case in the days leading up to the Pennsylvania primary. Some 35,000 people showed up in Philadelphia one night. The next day found Obama on a whistle-stop tour, where he spoke to tens of thousands more people at five different rallies. A couple of high school gymnasium events followed, and, there, Obama took some questions from the audience.

At each stop, Obama sauntered up on the stage as rock music blared and supporters cheered. A gifted orator, he was usually elevated in the middle of the crowd and a podium was often in place. Even so, he would meander across the stage as he gave his talk about a need to change the ways of Washington and do away with old-style politics. With a natural charisma, he was clearly comfortable being the center of attention and talking to voters. The crowds were always rambunctious, engaging with the candidate as he stood above them.

“This is now our moment. This is now our turn,” Obama declared repeatedly in an inspirational tone.

As he spoke, people on all sides of him would yell “We love you!” and Obama would respond with a wave and a smile, or a fingerpoint, “I love you guys, too!” He sprinkled his pitch with, “So, you know what I’m talkin’ about” and “that’s right” when the crowd cheered in agreement.

Afterward, with his full Secret Service detail in tow and limiting his movements, he worked the metal barriers that kept the crowds at bay, shaking hands, giving out hugs, posing for pictures and signing autographs. Many fans stretch their arms out to try to touch him; some end up in tears.

He was hardly as open with the media; at one point, it had been more than a week since Obama answered the questions of reporters who traveled with him. He did do some interviews with local media, though all but ignored the national media, save for buying reporters a couple of pies at a family style restaurant after greeting voters there.

At one diner stop, Obama bristled when a reporter tried to ask him a question: “Why can’t I just eat my waffle?”

In a sign of what may be coming, Obama started taking a different approach this week: he’s opted for smaller settings with voters and he’s been more available to the media.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Liz Sidoti has traveled extensively with McCain and recently made her first extended trip with Obama.

(This version CORRECTS word in headline to race; corrects word in 3rd graf to gamut.)

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By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer
29 minutes ago
 
WASHINGTON - Republicans can hardly contain their glee as they watch Barack Obama battle through a rocky period. And why should they?

Nothing else is breaking the GOP’s way this year. But, at least now, the Democrats’ political phenom is tarnished, and, if he defeats Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination, he will enter the general election campaign not only bruised and battered — but also carrying baggage as he faces Republican John McCain.

“We’ve had a rough couple of weeks. I won’t deny that,” Obama said Friday.

The Illinois senator has repeatedly had to address — and repudiate — the ranting of his bombastic former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Obama has continued facing questions about his relationship with indicted Chicago businessman Antoin “Tony” Rezko. The candidate’s patriotism has been questioned. So has his readiness.

On the eve of a critical Pennsylvania primary, Obama caught flak for claiming that small-town folks are bitter and thus cling to guns and religion. Then he turned in a lackluster debate performance. He ended up losing that primary to Clinton in part because he didn’t attract enough white, working-class voters.

Now he finds himself in the midst of competitive contests in two more states. Losses Tuesday in Indiana and North Carolina would further weaken him. Even if he manages to hold off Clinton in those and the final primary contests, Obama would essentially limp to the nomination.

“The bark is stripped off him a little bit,” said Reed Galen, a Republican who worked on President Bush’s campaigns. “Are the folks on the Republican side of the aisle happy to let Hillary do that? Absolutely.”

Among Republicans and Democrats alike, Obama’s turbulent time is raising questions about why he can’t seem to put away Clinton after a 16-month primary fight and whether Obama — in his first hard-fought race — is prepared not only to go up against McCain this fall but also to withstand the rigors of the White House.

Republicans hope Obama will be damaged goods come the general election and McCain will have a stronger shot at hanging onto the White House in an extraordinarily difficult political environment. Most Americans disapprove of Bush’s job performance and think the country is on the wrong track, while the Iraq war continues and the economy bears down on — if it’s not already in — a recession.

The GOP now sees a glimmer of light — a variety of Obama vulnerabilities they can try to exploit if he is the nominee.

One prominent Democrat who backs Clinton recognized as much.

Last week, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh raised the possibility that the GOP will use Obama’s association with Wright to try to destroy his character in a general election as the pro-Republican group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth did to Democrat John Kerry in 2004. Said Bayh: “I’m sure the far right will be out there trying to do the whole `Swift Boat’ thing.”

Already, Republicans are testing a theory that Obama could be a liability for Democrats down-ballot, running ads in special congressional races that linked the Democratic candidate to Obama in hopes of helping the Republican candidate. It didn’t work in Louisiana. The Democrat won Saturday.

Phil Musser, a Republican strategist who backed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s GOP presidential bid, said of Obama’s woes: “These are very damaging self-inflicted wounds and may heal over with a lot of happy talk at the Democratic convention, but may be re-exposed in the fall campaign.”

Indeed, GOP operatives are intently watching the Democratic primary fight to see how to push Obama’s buttons. They also hope Obama’s missteps and losses have alienated key general election constituencies — or at least planted negative impressions with them that will last into the fall.

“Each time that Clinton racks up a victory in these blue-collar-type states, it shows that Obama’s really losing the Reagan Democrats, which gives Republicans great comfort and a great strategy — go after those Reagan Democrats,” said John Feehery, a Republican who formerly worked for then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.

Democrats dismiss any notion that the damage will be lasting. They counter that six months is plenty of time for Obama to bounce back, and they argue it is unrealistic to imagine Obama would have gotten through his first ever rough-and-tumble campaign unscathed.

“It hasn’t been a great couple weeks, but some of these problems were going to emerge anyway, and it’s better that it happened now than in the fall,” said Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster who worked for Kerry’s campaign and is unaligned in the primary. He said Obama has gone through a “learning period” and that will benefit him in fall if he is the nominee.

Added Erik Smith, a Democrat and former aide to Dick Gephardt: “There’s something to be said for getting this stuff behind him, and not having any October surprises.”

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Liz Sidoti covers the presidential race for The Associated Press.

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By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer
1 minute ago
 
INDIANAPOLIS - Barack Obama likened Hillary Rodham Clinton to President Bush for threatening to “totally obliterate” Iran if it attacks Israel and called her gas-tax holiday a gimmick as he tried to fend off her challenge ahead of two pivotal Democratic primaries.
 
Clinton, in turn, stood by both her comment on Iran and her tax proposal as she gave chase in Indiana and North Carolina to the front-runner for the nomination.

The competitors squabbled over the issues — one foreign, one domestic — from a short distance, first during separate appearances on Sunday news shows and then as they courted voters for Tuesday’s primaries.

“This is the final push,” Clinton told a cheering crowd of volunteer canvassers in Fort Wayne, emboldened by her Pennsylvania victory two weeks ago as well as polls that show her in a close race in Indiana and narrowing Obama’s lead in North Carolina.

A few hours later and a few miles away, Obama urged an audience of several thousand to vote for him. “I need help,” he said.

The Illinois senator hopes that wins this week will stop the bleeding from a difficult campaign stretch. Maneuvering for advantage and trying to put the controversy over his former pastor behind him, Obama sought Sunday to portray Clinton as a political opportunist on both Iran and her gas-tax plan.

The two rivals crossed paths at the state Democratic party’s Jefferson Jackson Day dinner. Both candidates received loud cheers and applause from their respective supporters.

Clinton pushed her proposal for a summer suspension of the gasoline tax, which she would pay for with a windfall profit tax on oil companies.

“We can’t just plan for the future, we have to help people in the here and now,” Clinton said. “The choice to me is clear, we need to go after the oil companies.”

Obama, who calls the proposal a gimmick, told the same audience that oil companies would “simply jack up their price to fill the gap” if such a gas tax holiday were observed. “Does anybody here really trust the oil companies to give you the savings instead of just pocketing the money themselves?” he asked.

Obama rolled out a new TV ad for Indiana and North Carolina that derided “Clinton gimmicks that help big oil.”

Many economists oppose the plan and Clinton, during an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” demurred when asked to name one who supports it. “I’m not going to put my lot in with economists because I know if we did it right … it would be implemented effectively,” she said.

In a CBS News/New York Times poll released Sunday, 49 percent of voters said they thought lifting the gas tax for the summer was a bad idea. Only 45 percent thought it was a good idea.

Earlier, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Obama seized on an answer Clinton gave recently when asked what she would do if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons on her watch.

“I want the Iranians to know that if I’m the president, we will attack Iran,” Clinton said April 22 in an interview with ABC. “In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them.”

Obama said, “It’s not the language we need right now, and I think it’s language reflective of George Bush” akin to “bluster and saber rattling.”

“Senator Clinton during the course of the campaign has said we shouldn’t speculate about Iran, we’ve got to be cautious when we’re running for president, she scolded me on a couple of occasions on this issue, yet a few days before an election, she’s willing to use that language,” Obama added.

Clinton, asked about Obama’s criticism, didn’t back away from her comment.

“Why would I have any regrets? I’m asked a question about what I would do if Iran attacked our ally … and, yes, we would have massive retaliation against Iran,” Clinton said. “I don’t think they will do that, but I sure want to make it abundantly clear to them that they would face a tremendous cost if they did such a thing.”

Clinton and Obama both shuffled their schedules to dart back to North Carolina on Monday, reflecting the tightening contest there.

Obama is ahead in the hunt for convention delegates — 1,742.5 to 1,607.5, according to an Associated Press count Sunday — but he has faced a spate of troubles over the past month. That has Clinton sensing an opening. Still, the delegate math works in Obama’s favor, and it will be difficult for Clinton to overtake him.

Nevertheless, Clinton suggested anew she had no intention of dropping out, saying on ABC, “When the process finishes in early June, people can look at all the various factors and decide who would be the strongest candidate” to go up against McCain.

Obama told NBC, “We are going to keep on going and we feel confident that I am going to be the Democratic nominee.”

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Associated Press Writer Tom Coyne in Fort Wayne, Ind., contributed to this report.
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