Obama Faces Pressure in Tuesday's Vote

Tuesday May 6 marks another possible watershed in the process to find a Democratic nominee to face Republican John McCain in the fall general election. Primaries will be held in Indiana and North Carolina. Initial polls in early April had Sen. Barack Obama (D., Ill.) with a sizeable lead in Indiana and a massive lead of almost 20 points in North Carolina.

Now things have changed. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D., N.Y.) won the Pennsylvania primary by 10 percentage points, despite a decided disadvantage in ad dollars. The momentum since seems to favor Clinton. Most polls show Clinton leading in Indiana, and closing in North Carolina, which would make the Tar Heel state a tight race. The pressure is on Obama to exceed expectations.

Obama's campaign has started to face adversity in the media for the first time in the campaign. Many pundits now question how much damage Rev. Jeremiah Wright has done to the campaign.

One example comes from an editorial in the LA Times that wonders what will happen to the dialogue on race that Obama began in response to the controversy over Rev. Wright. Obama had preached unity. But when his former pastor appeared on TV at the National Press Club and repeated statements on the record, Obama reacted by throwing his pastor under the bus and disowning him. This contradicts Obama's speech. Obama said he could no more disown Rev. Wright than he could his own white grandmother. What changed?