The Pennsylvania Democratic primary: It's pugnacious, no longer putative and feels as if it is perpetual.

For past three weeks reporters Mary Niederberger and Maria Sciullo have tracked five undecided voters from the South Hills as a way of gauging interest and predicting an outcome for Pennsylvania's pivotal primary April 22.

We've found interest in what happens here Tuesday is off the charts -- locally and across the nation -- and that Sen. Barack Obama is closing in on Sen. Hillary Clinton who once had a double digit lead in the Keystone state.

This week Ms. Niederberger reports that the latest controversy to hit the campaign is Barack Obama's comments at a private fund raiser in California, where he spoke of -- some would say disparagingly -- economically frustrated people in small towns where jobs have disappeared.

He compared small towns in Pennsylvania to small towns in the Midwest, where jobs have been lost for decades

"And it's not surprising then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigration sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations," Mr. Obama said.

Hillary Clinton branded the comments as "demeaning" and "elitist" and "out of touch" with the way people feel.

All of our voters offered opinions on the topic, but for most it didn't move them one way or the other. Four of the five voters said they are now favoring Mr. Obama despite his gaffe.

Martin J. Flaherty

Age: 69; Mt. Lebanon

Owner M.J Flaherty Plumbing

At this point, Mr. Flaherty is still "leaning a little bit toward Obama" perhaps even more so than before after the criticism leveled at him this week by Mrs. Clinton.

"I think she is trying to hang onto any straw that she can to make him look bad and I think that hurt her more than it hurt him," Mr. Flaherty said.

"I think a lot of people understood what he [Obama] was trying to say."

But at the same time, Mr. Flaherty said he gives both Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton "a lot of credit" for have so much energy this far into a Democratic primary campaign that most expected to be over months ago.

"When you realize how long they have been on the campaign trail and the fact that they are both standing tall, that shows that either one of them would be able to handle the job of president," he said.

Mr. Flaherty said he's not sure what Gen. David Petraeus' recommendation of last week that there be a halt in troop withdrawals after 30,000 "surge" troops leave this summer will do to Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton's plans to try get troops home as soon as possible from Iraq.

But, he said, it's certainly going to make their decisions more difficult.

"We're probably going to have to stay there for a while and hope that you can have some diplomatic solution to it," he said.

Mr. Flaherty said he's tired of the media jumping on every small mistake that is spoken by the candidates or their representatives. "Every little word gets nitpicked," he said. "I'd rather see them talk about the issues that are going to be key."

But he also blames the candidates for the lack of discussion on serious issues. "They are both trying to play it safe right now, they are watching themselves," he said.

Janice Matyasovsky

Age: 58; Liberty

Auto production worker

Janice is the only one of the voters in this series who remains truly uncommitted. But it's not because she can't decide who is the better candidate. It's because she can't get excited about either one.

But she said that she thought that Mrs. Clinton, if not elected, would make a good foreign ambassador or member of the new president's cabinet.

For a brief time last week, she thought she might get to meet Mrs. Clinton, who visited West Mifflin on April 10. Mrs. Matyasovsky said there was a rumor that Mrs. Clinton planned to visit the General Motors metal stamping plant where she works in West Mifflin.

However, plant officials were slated to announce bad news that day: A deal to sell the plant, which had been slated to close at the end of last year, fell through. So Mrs. Clinton went to the Hot Metal Diner near the Allegheny County Airport instead.

Mrs. Matyasovsky said she isn't sure if the rumor was true, but she was looking forward to hearing first hand from one of the candidates.

The possible closing of the GM plant brings the unsteady state of the economy home for Mrs. Matyasovksy. She said she was only supposed to be a temporary employee at the plant, so the loss of her job will not have a dramatic affect on her and her husband, John, who is a retiree of the plant.

But, she said, she works with many people who have families depending on their paychecks from the plant.

She said she now believes the number one issue in the campaign is the economy. "People are losing their jobs and gas prices and other prices are going up,'' she said.

Mrs. Matyasovsky said she's not convinced that either of the Democratic candidates can fix the economy, nor does she think they can sympathize with laid off workers.

"I don't think either one of them has ever been in this position to have to worry about a paycheck or a job. They care about the small towns and the jobs and where they are all going right now because they want votes. But I don't think they really care," she said.

She said she truly has no idea what lever she will pull when she steps into the voting booth Tuesday.

"I get the feeling sometimes no matter who gets elected it's not going to change my everyday life," she said.

John Matyasovsky

Age: 60; Liberty

Retired electrician

Mr. Matyasovsky, Janice Matyasovsky's husband, said he was not at all offended by Mr. Obama's remarks about small towns and, in fact, understands what the candidate was trying to say.

He said he remembers seeing signs at the U.S. Steel Irvin plant that said foreign cars were not welcome in the lot, and he said at the GM metal stamping plant where he worked in West Mifflin, there was a sign that told drivers to park in the east lot if they weren't driving an American car.

He said those feelings come from people who have seen jobs lost to foreign steel or lower manufacturing costs overseas.

"Over here, our autoworkers and steelworkers, everybody wants a better life for themselves, but everything has kind of disappeared," Mr. Matyasovsky said. "These jobs are vanishing all over the country. We are most aware of it here because we depended so much on the steel industry."

Mr. Matyasovksy said at this point, he believes he will vote for Mr. Obama.

He said Mrs. Clinton "likes to throw rocks immediately" at Mr. Obama as issues arise in the campaign and he does not like that.

He said he believes Mr. Obama is a more sincere candidate and goes into more detail on his plans for the country.

Mr. Matyasovsky, who is Catholic, said he can't get past the fact that Mrs. Clinton is an advocate of partial birth abortions.

Alex Pazuchanics

Age: 18; Whitehall

Senior at Central Catholic High School

Alex said he believes that Mr. Obama's comments "politically are horrible for him. It's really a way of alienating a community that he was hoping to appeal to. But you can't deny that a lot of what he said was true."

The first-time voter, who said he is also leaning toward Mr. Obama at this point, is worried that if he does get the Democratic nomination, this issue "could come back to bite him" in the general election.

However, Alex said he thought that Mr. Obama "did a good job" of better explaining his comments about rural Pennsylvania towns during the Compassion Forum at Messiah College on Sunday.

In fact, he said, he liked the comments both Democratic candidates made about their faith during the forum.

He said his decision to possibly vote for Mr. Obama is based largely on his belief that he would be more likely to beat the presumptive Republican nominee John McCain.

Because Mrs. Clinton has been a "Washington insider" for so long, people may think there's not much of a difference in what she would be bring to the White House from what John McCain would have to offer, he said.

In addition, Alex said he believes Mrs. Clinton's husband, the former president, is hurting her campaign with some of the comments he has made, in particular, resurrecting the controversy over the criticism she took in recent weeks for overdramatizing the danger involved in a trip she took to Bosnia in 1996.

Alex is disappointed that he hasn't heard more from the Democratic candidates about issues pertaining specifically to Pennsylvania and Western Pennsylvania. But he thinks that both campaigns consider this area a lock for Mrs. Clinton since many big name Democrats, including super delegate and former Pittsburgh Mayor Sophie Masloff, have thrown their support behind her.

Dan Tatomir

Age:35; Mt. Lebanon

Financial consultant

Mr. Tatomir said though he was not committed to either candidate when this series of interviews started, in recent weeks he has found himself leaning toward Mr. Obama.

He said Mr. Obama appears to tackle issues head on, even when they are controversies, such as the comments he made recently about rural towns and the statements made by his pastor the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

"He's not afraid to speak truths that other politicians just kind of ignore because they don't want to tread on those waters. I think it's kind of refreshing that he is willing to talk about those kinds of things," Mr. Tatomir said.

Mr. Tatomir said he wasn't bothered by Mr. Obama's comments about people in small towns and doesn't think it was inappropriate for the candidate to refer to some of those people as "bitter."

Mr Tatomir said he believes Mrs. Clinton "is being hypocritcal" in attacking Mr. Obama for those comments because "she is trying to get votes by playing to the same feelings of those people."

He's also frustrated that media coverage has focused so much on misstatements made by the candidates or those around them and not on substantive issues.

He said Gen. Patraeus' comments last week about slowing down the troop withdrawals in Iraq highlight the need for a Democrat in the White House since there appears to be no move on the part of the Bush administration to end the war and Mr. McCain has said American troops could be Iraq for 100 years.

Mt. Tatomir said he also has concerns about what appears to be Mr. McCain's lack of knowledge on the economy.

"Because of the war and the economy, I feel we really need a change in the White House," he said.

At this point, he believes his vote will go to Mr. Obama because "he has the best chance to beat McCain in the fall."

Next week: It's all over but the shouting -- or at least until Democrats get to the convention.