Clinton, Obama Vie for Campaign Momentum

May 4, 2008 — -- With only two days until Indiana and North Carolina residents cast their primary ballots, Barack Obama is trying to steady his campaign as Hillary Clinton hopes her resilience makes her more attractive to Democratic voters who still may be torn between the two.

Clinton, who is hoping her momentum can overcome the delegate math that heavily favors Obama, continued to push her argument that Obama is an elitist as she stumped on the trail.

"There is a big difference between us," she said Saturday in Mooresville, N.C. "The question is this: Who understands what you are going through, and who will stand up for you?"

The New York senator said, "I understand what families have gone through because I have never lost touch."

Her late father, she said, did not believe in credit — her campaign's reported $9 million in debts at the end of last quarter, as well as the $5 million of her own money she loaned her campaign, notwithstanding — so Clinton says she pays her "credit card bills off every month," otherwise she would be afraid of what her father would have said, she implied.

She's attempting to cast herself as a type of Norma Rae and even made a pit stop at the NASCAR Racing Hall of Fame Museum.

"We do need to get somebody back in that driver's seat," she said.

But while she may have amassed some momentum, her task still may be daunting. It seems even her campaign's entertainers seem undecided.

While singer John Mellencamp sang for the Clinton family last night, the pop star also serenaded Obama a few days ago.

Obama, who won the Guam caucuses Saturday by only seven votes, may be ahead in pledged delegates, but has struggled to move the conversation beyond his relationship with his controversial former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. His campaign is concerned.

In addition, the Illinois senator's difficulty appealing to working-class white voters seems to have overtaken talk about his delegate lead over Clinton. He has 1,743 to her 1,602 delegates.

Obama even has brought his young daughters, Malea and Sasha, out on the trail to help him show that as a busy family man he has more in common with working-class families than Clinton.