Why the Democratic Race Could End in North Carolina

Meanwhile, the Obama camp has begun airing a TV ad decrying plant closures and job losses.

"Enough is enough," Obama declares in the 30-second spot.

Navigating a narrow path

Hillary Clinton's path to the nomination is a narrow one: Win big in Pennsylvania, prevail in North Carolina and force a favorable resolution of disputes over the Florida and Michigan delegations. The two states' delegates currently don't have seats at the convention because they were chosen in primaries held earlier than party rules allowed. Clinton's efforts to schedule new votes there have failed.

Strong showings in the final states could reduce Obama's lead in pledged delegates — though it is virtually impossible for her to overtake him, given the way the party distributes delegates proportionately in each state — and even gain her an edge in the popular vote. That would reinforce her argument to superdelegates that she wins the big states that would be crucial in a general-election campaign against presumptive Republican nominee John McCain.

A misstep or controversy that ensnared Obama would help Clinton, too, though he's apparently survived a furor in recent weeks over controversial remarks by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

Clinton is spotlighting economic angst among working-class voters — the same issue her husband used when he promised to focus "like a laser beam" on the economy in the 1992 primaries.

"The Bush economy is like a trapdoor" that has left too many Americans at risk of "falling through and losing everything," she tells an audience at Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh. "It's time for a president who is ready on Day One to be commander in chief of our economy."

Heads nod around the meeting room, where about 500 supporters and students are gathered.

She ticks off in detail her proposals for a job retraining program and a program to create "green-collar" jobs that are environmentally friendly, for one program to help families afford college tuition and another to boost those struggling to keep their mortgages current.

"She has specific plans on getting us out of the war, on health care and the economy," Barbara Carson, 60, a former FBI agent and employer-relations consultant who is in the audience, says approvingly. "While Barack is a good candidate, he doesn't have the specifics. He has blue-sky visions. We need concrete, ready-to-go plans."

Melissa Dunston, 30, a teacher's assistant with a "Hillary" sticker on her blouse, has brought her two daughters and a niece to hear Clinton speak. "They need to see the next president," she says.

Despite Obama's lead in North Carolina, Clinton has a better shot in this state than she did in South Carolina, where Obama swamped her by 2-1 in the Jan. 26 primary. In South Carolina, African-Americans made up 55% of the Democratic primary electorate, according to surveys of voters as they left polling places, and eight of 10 supported Obama. Clinton and former North Carolina senator John Edwards split the white vote.