Despite some national polls suggesting that Obama’s strength as a candidate in the general election has been eroded by the uproar over last week’s comments by his long-time Chicago pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, polling of likely voters in Indiana’s primary suggests that the race could go either way.

Random interviews of potential voters on a high spring weekend in and around the capitol city suggest, moreover, that Hoosiers are more concerned about the loss of manufacturing jobs and the price of gasoline.

Obama has sought an opening here in attacks on Clinton’s proposal for a summer holiday from the 18.4 cent a gallon federal gasoline tax which he asserts would save drivers only about 30 cents a day.

“That’s the same proposal that John McCain makes,” Obama told 2,300 Democrats last night at the party’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner at a downtown convention center. Besides tying his rival to the Senate colleague who is the Republican presidential candidate, Obama also positioned himself as a foe of the petroleum industry. “Does anybody here really trust the oil companies to give you savings” from a gas tax break? Obama demanded.

But there are some hints that New Yorker Clinton is breaking through to voters who are hungry for a candidate who appears to be doing something –– even something modest –– for them.

“I think anything to bring down the price of gas, even if its only a cup of coffee’s worth a day, is a move in the right direction,” said Kaylen Barcus and Indianapolis bus driver who has twice voted –– now with some regret –– for George Bush and plans to vote tomorrow for Clinton. “At least she sows an attitude that she’s going to do something for us,” said Barcus.