KEY POINTS:
The warring candidates for the Democratic nomination ricocheted between Indiana and North Carolina yesterday in a breathless push to win over wavering voters before potentially game-changing primary elections in both states today.
The compass-spinning schedules of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama showed that the stakes in the nomination contest are higher than ever.
Each made daytime stops in North Carolina, where Mrs Clinton may be closing on her rival, before dashing back for evening events in Indiana where the race is tight.
Mr Obama, who was set to round off his efforts last night with an outdoor rally here in Indianapolis, is looking not just to capture North Carolina, where a large African American population should help him, but also deeply conservative Indiana to ease doubts about his electability after a very bumpy few weeks.
While a double victory would provide a huge psychological boost for Mr Obama, the results tonight may be even more crucial for Mrs Clinton, whose path to the nomination remains extremely narrow. If she can pip Mr Obama in Indiana and come close in North Carolina she will have fresh ammunition to make the case to party elders that she is the candidate better able to beat John McCain.
"At the end of the day, you don't hire a president to make speeches, you hire a president to solve problems," the former first lady told a small crowd in a gymnasium at Pitt Community College in Greenville, North Carolina, in a nod to Mr Obama's greater oratorical skills. Mr Obama said that whatever happened today, the struggle was unlikely to end before 3 June when the last primary contests come in Montana and South Dakota.
Then "we will be in a position to make a decision [as to] who the Democratic nominee is going to be. I will be the Democratic nominee," he said. But while his delegate lead over his rival looks insurmountable, Mr Obama can take nothing for granted, especially with the furore over the Rev Jeremiah Wright still haunting his campaign.
"We're working as hard as we can and I desperately want every single vote here, in North Carolina and Indiana," he said during a visit to a North Carolina construction site.
It is why Damont Glenn, 28, a funeral parlour worker, took the day off yesterday and hurried to his local motor vehicle office on the south side of Indianapolis to renew his state identification card which expired in January. Thanks to a Republican-sponsored law - upheld last week by the US Supreme Court - only residents with valid government-issued ID cards will be allowed to vote today.
Normally closed on Mondays, motor vehicle bureaux opened exceptionally all across Indiana to issue the free ID cards after Democrats complained that the new law would depress turnout particularly among African Americans, which in turn threatened to damage the Obama campaign disproportionately.
"I am only one person and I only have one vote but that vote might decide who the next president will be," said Mr Glenn. "I like the aura of the man [Mr Obama] and I like him because he has not really attacked Hillary Clinton like she has attacked him. I respect him for that. She has been all about dirty tricks."
Just ahead of him in line was Kevin Hall, 39, and his partner, Phyllis Hall, 52. They, too, held expired cards and wanted to vote today. Their hearts were also with the Illinois senator. "He talks about things that matter to me," said Mr Hall who is unemployed. "He says he is going to change things for the poor.
Everyone else talks about the middle class and we get pushed out of the picture. "But Mr Hall also struck a note of cynicism. "He could just be talking too, you know, telling us what we want to know before getting into office.
People say anything to get votes. "That is the charge levelled by Mr Obama at Mrs Clinton over her proposal to suspend federal taxes on petrol over the summer to help motorists, a move that she claims could be financed by a windfall tax on oil companies. Mr Obama, backed by most economists, calls it a gimmick that would have little impact because increased demand would only push the base price up further.
The petrol squabble took centre stage in Indianapolis on Sunday night when both candidates addressed a gathering of 2,300 party activists at the city convention centre.
In a speech that drew noticeably greater applause than Mrs Clinton's, Senator Obama said her plan was a "shell game" that would not help anyone. Her tone growing more populist by the day, Mrs Clinton emphasised her commitment to fight on whatever the odds.
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