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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."