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HAGATNA, Guam : The tiny US Pacific island of Guam relished a rare moment in the spotlight Saturday, weighing in on the raging Democratic White House battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Obama narrowly won the island's caucuses by seven votes, winning 14 of the island's 21 districts and finishing with 2,264 votes against 2,257 for Clinton, local party officials said. Guam has four pledged delegate votes.
Voter turnout on the island located more than 8,000 miles (12,900 kilometers) from Washington was 25 percent higher than the 4,000 party officials expected on Saturday. The island's residents, while US citizens, cannot vote in November's presidential election.
Neither of the two candidates traveled to Guam, but both gave interviews to local media.
Clinton and Obama meanwhile barnstormed towards more crucial contests on Tuesday in Indiana and North Carolina, which will play a vital role in defining the end-game of the gruelling fight for the Democratic nomination.
Front-runner Obama, hoping to become the first black US president, made another attempt to connect with working-class voters who have mainly backed Clinton and frustrated his attempts to knock her out of the race.
In a speech in Indianapolis, Indiana, he said the current climate -- a faltering economy, high gas and food prices -- threatened the American dream.
"This economy doesn't just jeopardize our financial well-being, it offends the most basic values that have made this country what it is: the idea that America is the place where you can make it if you try," he said.
But Clinton styled herself as the best person to make "those changes real in our daily lives," as she campaigned in Wake Forest, North Carolina.
"I know the difference between making speeches and implementing solutions," the New York senator said, seeking to slam Obama as inexperienced.
"Those prices that are going up, gas prices and grocery prices, are really taking a big chunk out of people's disposable income," she said, and rapped Obama for opposing her plan for short-term cuts in the federal gasoline tax.
The Illinois senator, campaigning with his wife Michelle, and daughters Sasha and Malia for the first time since January, hit back, saying Clinton's advisors admit her plan will not have an effect on gas prices.
"So this is not about getting you through the summer, it's about getting elected," he told a crowd in Indianapolis.
Polls favor Obama in North Carolina, though the race has tightened in recent days, after he suffered a miserable April. Indiana was too close to call.
The rivals are in the last stretch of a 16-month battle for the right to take on Republican presumptive nominee John McCain in November's election.
Despite the fierce battle between them, which looks set to continue through the final run of nominating contests into June, both Clinton and Obama vowed to heal party divisions whichever one becomes the nominee.
"If Senator Obama is the nominee, you better believe I'll work my heart out for him," Clinton said at a rowdy Democratic dinner in North Carolina on Friday.
He returned the compliment, saying at the same venue: "If Hillary Clinton were the nominee, I would support her in a heartbeat."
Clinton is trying to convince "superdelegates" -- nearly 800 top party officials who hold the balance of power -- that neither she nor Obama can reach the 2,025 delegate threshold to win outright, and that she is the best choice.
A tally by independent website RealClearPolitics.com had Obama up by 136 total delegates, 1,739 to 1,603, and fast closing on his rival's current 268-250 lead among superdelegates, with fewer than 300 superdelegates undeclared.
Polls meanwhile showed softening support for Obama.
A Howey-Gauge poll in Indiana had him barely ahead, 47 percent to 45. Clinton trailed by 15 points in the same poll in February.
A Rasmussen poll in North Carolina on Friday had Obama leading by nine points, but with Clinton closing, cutting the gap from 14 points earlier this week.
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.
- AFP/vm
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