CLINTON GAINS ON OBAMA IN KEY PRIMARY STATES

[AFP]

***BREAKING NEWS****

Hillary Clinton appeared Wednesday to be making huge gains on Barack Obama in two key primary states, Indiana and North Carolina after her Democratic foe tried to quell another damaging uproar sparked by his fiery former pastor. In a third state, Kentucky, there is no change, but Clinton enjoys a 36 point lead there.

“Clinton's message seems to be hitting home after her campaign-saving victory in Pennsylvania last week”, AFP news service reports.

A Howey-Gauge poll in Indiana released Tuesday had Obama up by just 47 to 45 percentage points, well within the margin of error, with eight percent of likely primary voters undecided.

Clinton had trailed by 15 points in the same poll in February--a Clinton gain of 13 points.

A Public Policy poll had Clinton up eight points, weighting the average of recent polls in the state by RealClearPolitics.com in her favor, showing her up two points.

In North Carolina, a state where Obama hopes a large African-American population (38% of registered Democrats) will help carry him to victory, he leads the RealClearPolitics average by 10 points, but a Survey USA poll Tuesday had him up by only five.

However, it is expected that following the re-emergence of Obama’s former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, onto the national scene over the week-end and on Monday (and not in a good way), Obama’s lead in North Carolina will further erode. (Mayhill Fowler of the Huffington Post has described the extent to which the Wright issue was resonating with white and educated voters in North Carolina—and that was before the latest Wright controversy broke on Monday.)

In addition, Clinton got a boost in the Tar Heel State on Tuesday with the endorsement of popular North Carolina Governor Mike Easley--who has promised to help deliver the state to Clinton on May 6.