Indiana looks like a nail-biter today

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama crisscrossed two states Monday, waging a last-ditch push for votes in Indiana and North Carolina even as both vowed to keep campaigning through the month regardless of today's results.

"This is going to be a tight election here in Indiana. Every poll shows a dead heat," Obama told union members at an early-morning event in Evansville before jetting off to North Carolina. "We need every single vote."

Clinton launched a new TV ad, pitching her proposal to suspend the federal gasoline tax and ripping Obama for opposing it.

"He is attacking Hillary's plan to give you a break on gas prices because he doesn't have one," said the ad.

Indiana is shaping up as the key battleground, where a Clinton victory in Obama's backyard would be her first in a state bordering the Illinois senator's home and perhaps would reinforce the weakness he has shown in recent contests. Clinton led there by 5.3 percentage points in an averaging of recent polls cited by RealClearPolitics.com.

An Obama win in Indiana, however, could signal that he has regained his front-runner footing after a firestorm of criticism over his former pastor and his comment about working-class votes clinging to God and guns out of bitterness.

The contest doesn't appear to be as close in North Carolina, where more than a third of the vote could be cast by African-Americans. Obama leads by seven percentage points in an averaging of recent polls cited by RealClearPolitics.com.

One prominent and neutral Democrat, former Rep. Harold Ford of Tennessee, said Monday that Clinton appeared to be gaining in both states, thanks to her detailed promise to help working-class voters worried about pocketbook issues, particularly her proposal to suspend the federal gas tax.

"She has found some traction with voters that's giving her momentum here at the end," Ford said.

While a split decision – such as Clinton winning Indiana and Obama winning North Carolina – could leave the contest unchanged, either candidate could change the dynamic of the race heading into the final weeks by winning both today.

"If he wins both, it's over for her," Ford said. "If she wins both, I don't know how it doesn't move it to her favor."

Battle-scarred operatives in both camps brushed away any hopes of the long campaign ending any time soon.

Neither will win enough in the remaining primaries to reach the 2,025 needed to clinch the nomination. The winner must win the rest from among about 230 still-uncommitted superdelegates, all senior party officials.

Clinton aides vowed again Monday that she'll fight on through the primaries regardless of today's results.

"There are still a lot of people who haven't had the opportunity (to vote) between now and June 3, and Senator Clinton wants to give them the opportunity," said Clinton aide Mo Elleithee. "There is a clear path to victory, and we're going to see the process through."

That path apparently includes fighting to seat contested delegates from Michigan and Florida, where Clinton won unsanctioned primaries.

The Clinton campaign told the Huffington Post on Monday that it will take the Michigan-Florida fight to the Democratic National Committee's Rules Committee meeting in late May.

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• Call Steven Thomma, McClatchy Washington Bureau, (202) 383-6042.