RALEIGH, N.C. -- The numbers are still in his favor: A nearly insurmountable lead nationwide in pledged delegates, a healthy popular vote lead, a gradual trickle of superdelegate endorsements, and an enormous fund-raising advantage.

But still there's a sense that the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama is slipping, and it has turned Tuesday's North Carolina primary for which polls showed a healthy double-digit lead for Mr. Obama just a couple weeks ago, into a battle.

Both Mr. Obama and his rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, spent the day in North Carolina yesterday, finishing with dueling speeches in Raleigh last night at the Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson dinner.

A poll released Wednesday showed a 7-point advantage for Mr. Obama, but analysts expect the race could tighten by Tuesday.

"Gov. [Mike] Easley endorses [Mrs. Clinton], the Pennsylvania primary, the talking heads on TV -- it's all just beginning to collectively move voters one way or the other, and it just feels like it's moving her way," said John Davis, president of N.C. Free, a nonpartisan political research association.

In both North Carolina and Indiana, where the polls show the two almost even, the key for Mrs. Clinton lies in winning over superdelegates, party insiders whose votes at the convention could tip the balance in either candidate's favor.

Central to the Clinton campaign's argument to the superdelegates is that Mrs. Clinton has been fully vetted, while Mr. Obama could be a liability in the general election when the Republicans pick through his record and associations with characters such as his controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and 1960s radical William Ayers.

"A month ago this argument sounded desperate," said John Hood, president of the John Locke Foundation, a Raleigh-based conservative think tank. "It sounded opportunistic and somewhat implausible. But then Jeremiah Wright happened and Bill Ayers happened. ... The argument has been borne out by events. But if she's got enough time, she can make the sale. It's just a question of whether she will run out of time."

Mrs. Clinton made five campaign stops in North Carolina yesterday, including a speech last night at the J.S. Dorton Arena on the state fairgrounds in front of 5,000 people -- by far a record crowd for a North Carolina Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner.

She spoke first, leaving before Mr. Obama closed out the evening, and both shared a conciliatory theme when addressing a crowd that tilted in Mr. Obama's favor. Both avoided stump lines that directly criticized each other and said they would eagerly support the other in the general election if it came to that.

And both candidates had harsh words for the common enemy of all of the Democrats in the room, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, with Mrs. Clinton quipping, "He looks at the hole that George Bush has dug us into and says, 'Give me a bigger shovel.' "

Both praised former North Carolina senator John Edwards -- who dropped out of the presidential race in January -- and his wife, Elizabeth. Neither has endorsed a candidate, and the family is on vacation this weekend in Florida, away from the primary hullabaloo.

Mrs. Clinton, in what has been a theme for voters and superdelegates, referenced her toughness.

"It won't be easy, but there's one thing you know about me, I'm no shrinking violet," she said. "I may stumble. I may get knocked down. But I always get back up."

Mr. Obama began the day with a news conference in Indiana, attempting to turn the spotlight from his controversies to the economy, before making stops in Charlotte, N.C. and at the Raleigh dinner.

Mr. Obama began the day with a news conference in Indiana, attempting to turn the spotlight from his controversies to the economy, before making stops in Charlotte, N.C., and at the Raleigh dinner.

Mr. Obama referenced his recent controversies and said he hasn't always run the positive campaign he wanted to, but said he was committed to his idealistic vision.

"We can be the party that says and does whatever it takes to win the next election, or we can be the party that doesn't just focus on how to win, but why we should," he said.

As it is nationally, the economy remains the top issue on voters' minds in the Tar Heel state -- in Wednesday's poll, 51 percent of respondents ranked it No. 1, with the Iraq War next at 14 percent -- but the situation is brighter than in many parts of the country.

"Even though there are stressed workers, stressed families in the state, the state as a whole doesn't have the self-image of being pummeled or losing," said Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program for Public Life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "There's still a sense of wealth and possibility. It's not a state you can just come into and just bemoan the cracking of the economy."

"To some extent, Obama's problem is that he has some consultants who are really drinking that youth vote, next generation nectar, and they are generating ads that seem indistinguishable from product placements on MTV," he said.

"And for the voters that are undecided, it's not very interesting. It doesn't even stand out. Clinton's ads have been spare but effective -- looking directly into the camera, buying a 60-second rather than a 30-second ad. They arrest you, get your attention."

One of Mrs. Clinton's new ads features Mr. Easley, a valuable endorsement pickup in a state where Democratic leaders are split between the candidates, but it's unclear how important that has been. Mr. Guillory argued that Mr. Easley, who is leaving office this year because of term limits, doesn't hold the same sway as Gov. Ed Rendell, a key to Mrs. Clinton's win in Pennsylvania.

Also unlike Pennsylvania, it's hard to pick geographic regions of support for either candidate. The mountainous western section of the state -- which elected Democrat Heath Shuler, the former NFL quarterback, to Congress in 2006 over an eight-term Republican incumbent -- should go for Mrs. Clinton, but the rest is an even mix.

Mr. Obama does have two important advantages, though, which is why he remains the favorite on Tuesday.

First, of registered Democrats, nearly 40 percent are black, a constituency Mr. Obama has been able to count on in great numbers so far. And North Carolina is a semi-open primary, meaning the more than 1.2 million voters who registered as "unaffiliated" can participate in the Democratic primary.

Mr. Obama has had more success than Mrs. Clinton in attracting independents and Republicans to his corner.

But Mrs. Clinton has the advantage of a 55-45 registration edge for women, and a woman has won 14 of the 17 statewide races that have pitted a woman against a man since 2000.

The test Tuesday night will be to meet the benchmarks set by the media and superdelegates -- likely a sizeable win for the Illinois senator.

"The Obama people have done a lot of things right, but one major thing they've done wrong politically is their inability to set expectations," Mr. Hood said.

"It's flat-out happened again. ... [Obama must] win North Carolina convincingly, which will be tough."