Hillary Clinton might have added another large state to her list of victories Tuesday night, but her chances of beating Barack Obama were severely damaged after a lackluster showing in Indiana and a crushing defeat in North Carolina at the hands of Democratic rival.
Recognizing the new political landscape she faces, Clinton cut loose a planned day of rest Wednesday to start up the campaign machine for one final push. There are six remaining nomination contests over the next four weeks, 217 pledged delegates still up for grabs, and 269 undecided superdelegates.
Her focus now? Keep hope alive among a jittery group of superdelegates who have stuck with her so far. To do so she’ll need to pull together a string of fourth-quarter miracles while dangling the prospect of bringing back into the fold votes from Florida and Michigan — which were written off in a pre-primary party dispute.
But that hope is diminishing quickly after Tuesday’s balloting. Clinton eked out a 1.7 percent win over Obama in Indiana, lower than pre-election polls predicted, taking the Hoosier State 50.8-49.1. But in the Tar Heel State, Obama racked up a 15 percentage point win, taking it 57-42.
Clinton has a chance at winning in a few of the remaining states, but the likelihood of her taking the delegates she needs to win is nearly insurmountable. She is favored to win next week in West Virginia, as well as the May 20 contest in Kentucky, and the June 1 contest in Puerto Rico. But her chances are slim in Oregon (May 20), and the last two primaries in Montana and South Dakota on June 3.
Still, she argues the count is close.  Clinton touched on this theme Tuesday night, citing the “he wins one, she wins one” nature of the campaign.

elections.foxnews.com

A familiar figure in a leather jacket looms over the lineup for the Cannes Film Festival.
Indiana Jones may not be in the running for the prestigious Palme d’Or but his return in the year’s most eagerly awaited blockbuster has overshadowed a strong official roster that features new work from directors Clint Eastwood, Steven Soderbergh, Wim Wenders, Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Walter Salles.
No British films have been selected to compete for the coveted prize, despite Britain claiming the top two honours at Cannes in 2006 with The Wind that Shakes the Barley and Red Road.
The world’s most important film festival has frequently championed wilfully obscure, intellectual movies during its 62-year history and the tastes of the jury chairman Sean Penn are particularly eclectic.
Last year the top prize went to the gripping Romanian drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days – an almost unwatchably harrowing tale of backstreet abortion in communist Bucharest.
But Cannes has also been in thrall to glamour ever since Brigitte Bardot posed in a bikini on the beach in 1953.
Mike Gubbins, editor of Screen International, said that the presence of a Hollywood blockbuster is a Cannes fixture. “It’s become tradition to sit in the bar at four in the morning moaning about how the festival has sold out, but these films are of course the perfect foil to the heavy fare elswhere.”
This year for all the combined star wattage of Eastwood, Penn, Woody Allen, Quentin Tarantino, Penélope Cruz, Benicio del Toro, Scarlett Johansson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mike Tyson and Diego Maradona, who are all expected to attend, it is the world premiere of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull that is likely to stir up the biggest frenzy among the 30,000 film industry representatives who will descend on the Riviera between May 14 and May 25. Nineteen years after he last flexed his bullwhip in anger, Harrison Ford returns as the adventurous archaeologist with a fear of snakes and a flair for smart one-liners. Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the first three films in the series, grossed $1.2 billion at the global box office between 1981 and 1989.

technology.timesonline.co.uk

Obama Shrinks His Audiences to Wage Close Battle in Indiana
By Julianna Goldman
May 6 (Bloomberg) — Democrat Barack Obama is trying to seal the nomination with handshakes.
The Illinois senator, who leads rival Hillary Clinton in the chase for delegates who will decide the party's presidential nomination, hit the trail early today as Indiana and North Carolina voters headed for the polls.
He shook almost every hand that was extended and posed for pictures in the Republican-leaning Indianapolis suburb of Greenwood and headed north to the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis to greet voters at a polling site.
With the campaign moving into its final stages, Obama is spending more time on retail politics than he has since winning the Iowa caucuses in January.
“Putting him in a little smaller group allows him to talk more and interact more, said Robert Gibbs, Obama's communications director. “It's hard to have a town hall meeting with a couple of thousand people, but it's easier with a couple of hundred people.''
One of the Obama campaign's signature events has been the arena rally. As the battle with Clinton has been waged in Indiana, the big rallies have been combined with a more personal style of campaigning.
After a rally in Indianapolis last night featuring singer- songwriter Stevie Wonder performing his hit “Signed, Sealed, Delivered'' — a song the campaign regularly uses to close out events — Obama caught the midnight shift-change at the Automatic Component Holdings plant managed by the Ford Motor Co. The plant is scheduled to close in 2010 and half of its workforce will be laid off.
Vicky Bridges, a machinist from Greenwood, said seeing Obama in person changed her perception of him.
“It definitely makes a big difference when you meet him,'' Bridges, 45, said. While she liked Obama before, getting a closer look “feels a bit more personal,'' she said.

bloomberg.com

Much chatter on the blogs about early exit returns showing Barack Obama leading Hillary Clinton by up to five points. One blog notes a cautionary tale of how Obama traditionally does better in early exit polling than the final numbers indicate.
But if the Obama campaign thought he had any shot whatsoever at realistically putting the final close line on Clinton would he be in Indiana tonight?
During junior Super Tuesday he was in San Antonio because he hoped to win Texas. She was in Ohio.
Both were in Des Moines following the Iowa caucuses, but that was supposed to be close. Same for New Hampshire when both candidates stayed.
But in South Carolina, Obama gave his victory speech in Columbia while Clinton fled the state.
On Super Tuesday, Obama was in Chicago. Clinton in New York.
So smart money says the Obama campaign in their heart of hearts believes they are going on to Indiana and North Carolina. But if Clinton's victory is as tight as some exit polls are predicting (4 points or so) then expect the demands for her departure to be as loud as the Bon Jovi concert tonight.
But if she wins by 10 plus, then nervous frosh House Democrats may wait to see how she does in North Carolina and Indiana.
Polls close in about an hour in the Keystone state. Final prediction time. Here's a couple of nuggets to help. Gun owers are going with Clinton and one out of every four voter said there was a gun in their household, based on exit returns. Folks with a college degree going with Obama. Two-third of voters say Clinton made unfair attacks while half say Obama did. How goeth white men, particularly Catholics, is a huge question tonight.
And when it comes to exit returns? Ask John Kerry how that turned out. He thought for a couple of hours one November afternoon he'd be president now.

primebuzz.kcstar.com