Has Obama slipped?

The primaries in Indiana and North Carolina Tuesday will answer one main question: How badly has Sen. Barack Obama stumbled?

The last few weeks have produced a drumbeat of trouble for the Democratic front-runner. A decisive Pennsylvania loss to Hillary Rodham Clinton, the dust-ups over his former pastor and remarks about "bitter" small-town voters – all appear to have damaged his standing in the polls, both nationally and in the states voting Tuesday.

Democratic voters now see him in a much closer nomination fight with Senator Clinton, according to recent polls. And while the Indiana race had always been tight, Senator Obama has watched his once- secure double-digit lead in North Carolina dip to three percentage points.

A dual victory Tuesday stands as his best chance to shut down the prolonged nomination fight, analysts say. But if he loses Indiana and if North Carolina is close, Clinton can continue to argue her candidacy to the only group numerous enough to save it: the nearly 800 elected officials and party leaders called superdelegates, some 274 of whom remain undecided.

Obama leads Clinton 1,744 to 1,608 in the race for the 2,025 delegates – pledged and super – required for the nomination, according to an Associated Press count on Monday.

"Hillary is looking for evidence to lead the superdelegates to look past the numerical advantage that Barack Obama has and will have," says Lawrence Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance, at the University of Minnesota. "A win in Indiana and/or a win or close second in North Carolina will put wind in those sails."

Clinton needs tailwinds now more than ever. Over the past week, even as his poll numbers dropped, Obama has picked up superdelegates at a faster clip than the New York senator. Among them were two former chairmen of the Democratic National Committee, including Joe Andrew, the party's leader under Bill Clinton and a former supporter of Hillary Clinton.

But Clinton aides argue that the new poll numbers reflect a shifting landscape.

Geoff Garin, Clinton's chief strategist, told reporters Thursday that there had been "a real change of the dynamic in terms of the candidate who is consistently [viewed as] strongest against" the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain.

At a tractor dealership in Kinston, N.C., Friday, Clinton billed the contests Tuesday as nothing short of a "game changer," a sign of growing confidence in the face of Obama's recent trials.

Seventy-two pledged delegates are up for grabs in Indiana, and 115 in North Carolina. Because both contests are expected to be close and Democrats divide a state's delegates according to the popular vote, the primaries Tuesday will not significantly alter Obama's lead in pledged delegates.

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