The end could be near.
Or the endgame, at least, of a surprisingly drawn-out Democratic presidential contest. Four months and 42 states after the opening Iowa caucuses, the primary in North Carolina on May 6 now looms as a pivotal final showdown between Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Obama starts with a double-digit lead in polls here, a state where 2,400 free tickets to his rally at the War Memorial Auditorium in Greensboro last week were gone within three hours of the announcement he would appear. But Clinton has appeal in the Tar Heel State, too, and is competing hard. The day after Obama's rally, she drew 1,000 supporters to the gym at Terry Sanford High School in Fayetteville for a town hall meeting. ... Susan Page at USAToday ...
Meanwhile, the negatives are looking like this:
Among voters nationwide, McCain is now viewed favorably by 57% of voters nationwide and unfavorably by 41%. Obama’s reviews are 49% favorable and 49% unfavorable. For Clinton, those numbers are 44% favorable, 53% unfavorable. ... Rasmussen ...
