Nearly two months since the Democrats last debated -- and nearly 12 months since their first forum -- things have come full circle in a race where the frontrunners have flipped.
The pressure once again is on Sen. Barack Obama to exceed expectations Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Central Time at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center -- and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is looking to close the deal in Pennsylvania, and look beyond.
The debate is Obama's best chance to take on questions over two controversies that have sidetracked his candidacy; his charge is to answer concerns about his views and his electability.
Clinton, D-N.Y., needs to demonstrate she's still in control of Pennsylvania -- her perilous path still intact despite distractions and obstacles of her own -- and sow the kind of serious doubts about Obama she needs to spring in the minds of superdelegates.
Yet the polls are looking more sweet than bitter for Obama, D-Ill.: The new ABC News/Washington Post national poll gives Obama an 11-point edge on the question of whom Democrats would like to see as the nominee -- and shows a spike in Clinton's negative perceptions.
"Barack Obama has knocked down one of the three tent poles of Hillary Clinton's campaign for president, surging ahead of her as the candidate Democrats see as most likely to win in November," ABC Polling Director Gary Langer writes.
"Democrats by a 2-1 margin, 62-31 percent, now see Obama as better able to win in November -- a dramatic turn from February, when Clinton held a scant 5-point edge on this measure, and more so from last fall, when she crushed her opponents on electability," Langer writes.
The battle "appears to have taken a toll on the image of Clinton, who was once seen as the favorite," Dan Balz and Jon Cohen write in The Washington Post. "In the new poll, 54 percent said they have an unfavorable view of Sen. Clinton, up from 40 percent a few days after she won the New Hampshire primary in early January. . . . In hypothetical general-election matchups, Obama holds a slim, five-point lead over McCain, while McCain is three points ahead of Clinton, which is within poll's margin of error."
She's got a narrow lead in Pennsylvania -- but that's about it. The Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll has Clinton up 46-41 in Pennsylvania, but down 40-35 in Indiana, and 47-34 in North Carolina.
"Barack Obama is leading Hillary Clinton in two of the next three Democratic primaries, an advantage, if it holds, that would allow him to sew up the nomination," Bloomberg's Heidi Przybyla writes.
"Hillary Rodham Clinton may not be headed toward the blockbuster victories she needs to jump-start her presidential bid -- even in Pennsylvania, the state that was supposed to be her ace in the hole," Janet Hook writes in the Los Angeles Times. "The survey found the New York senator leading Barack Obama by 5 percentage points in Pennsylvania, which votes next Tuesday. Such a margin would not give her much of a boost in the battle for the party's nomination."
Another Pennsylvania poll, from Franklin & Marshall: "Clinton clung to a lead of 46 percent to 40 percent for Obama among likely Democratic voters, with 14 percent undecided. In March, Clinton led 51 percent to 35 percent," Catherine Lucey writes in the Philadelphia Daily News. "But experts said that the survey may not fully show the impact of Obama's statements last week that small-town Americans are 'bitter' over their economic status and 'cling to guns or religion.' "
It's an 11-point margin in Gallup's daily tracking, Obama 51, Clinton 40.
