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KINSTON, North Carolina : Hillary Clinton intensified her relentless bid for a comeback in the Democratic White House race Friday, despite Barack Obama's formidable mathematical edge heading into two vital primaries.
The New York Senator launched a barnstorming day-long tour through North Carolina, a state where polls favor Obama, but show the race tightening after the pace-setting Illinois senator staggered through a miserable April.
Obama targeted economic issues, seeking to improve upon his weakness with blue-collar voters who normally favor Clinton, as he began a gruelling day in Indiana before heading to North Carolina which both hold primaries on Tuesday.
The Illinois senator leads in nominating contests won, and elected delegates after a marathon nominating race, and appears to have a mathematical lock on his party's nod to take on Republican John McCain in November.
But Clinton is trying to convince 'superdelegates' -- nearly 800 top party officials who hold the balance of power, now neither she nor Obama can reach the 2,025 delegate threshold to win outright, that she is the best choice.
"The superdelegates are going to have to make the choice, the bottom line ... who is it that is best to take the message in the fall against John McCain?" Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe said on ABC News.
But Joe Andrew, a former Clinton supporter and top Democratic leader, who defected, in a blow to her campaign on Thursday, said Obama's lead meant the race was already effectively over with nine contests to go.
"Barack Obama has more states, more votes. We know what the result is going to be at the end of this process."
A tally by independent website RealClearPolitics.com had Clinton up by 138 total delegates, 1737 to 1599, and fast closing on his rival's current 266-248 lead among superdelegates, with less than 300 superdelegates undeclared.
Clinton got a big boost by winning a major endorsement in Indiana, a state pundits say she must win to stay in the race, from the influential Indianapolis Star newspaper.
"Obama offers an attractive vision for the way things could be," the paper said.
"He speaks eloquently of hope and change. He connects with voters, many who formerly felt disenfranchised, on a level few political leaders have attained."
But it added: "Clinton offers a clear-eyed view of the way things are. She offers nuanced positions on how to address the war in Iraq, trade with China and economic expansion. Her depth of knowledge is remarkable.
"Experience makes Clinton better choice in primary."
Polls meanwhile are showing softening support for Obama, who has spent the last week fighting off a furor over the latest incendiary remarks by his former pastor Jeremiah Wright.
But Clinton's camp pounced on surveys Thursday showing her beating Republican candidate John McCain in November.
Quinnipiac University data showed her beating McCain 49 to 41 percent in Florida, and 48 to 38 percent in midwestern Ohio. She also topped McCain by 51 percent to 37 percent in Pennsylvania, another bellwether state.
Obama, by contrast, trailed McCain 44-43 percent in Florida, and by single point in Ohio, though did come out better than McCain, 47 percent to 38 percent, in Pennsylvania.
All three states are crucial building blocs in any Democratic strategy to take back the White House.
A CBS/New York Times poll found 51 percent of Democratic voters believe Obama will be the party's standard bearer in November -- down a whopping 18 points from a month ago.
And Obama's unfavorable rating among registered voters rose from 24 percent a month ago to 34 percent. The poll was conducted between April 25 and 29, during the height of the latest Wright uproar.
A Howey-Gauge poll in Indiana had Obama up by just 47 to 45 percentage points. Clinton trailed by 15 points in the same poll in February.
In North Carolina, Obama led the RealClearPolitics average of polls by 10 points, but a Survey USA poll Tuesday had him up by only five.
A Zogby tracking poll on Friday had Obama up 16 points in North Carolina, where he hopes his coalition of African Americans, affluent white voters and students will carry him to a clear victory.
Zogby had the race a mathematical tie in Indiana.
- AFP /ls
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