Clinton is on the ropes

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) presidential aspirations took a severe blow Tuesday night when frontrunner Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) soundly defeated her in North Carolina and the former first lady was unable to counterpunch in Indiana.

While Clinton has lost by greater margins and once suffered through a long losing streak, Tuesday’s results were devastating because it took the wind out of the sails of a campaign that had tried to convince voters and superdelegates that the tide had turned in her favor.

{mosads}Clinton supporters had hoped that she could win convincingly in Indiana and close the gap to Obama in North Carolina. Instead, the Illinois senator won the Tar Heel State by 14 percent and more than 240,000 votes while the Indiana race remained too close to call until well after midnight.

Earlier in the evening, Obama had indicated that Clinton would win in the Hoosier State and the former first lady, in a speech from Indianapolis, claimed victory. However, as counting progressed her once comfortable margin shrunk until only a few thousand votes separated the rivals and it was deemed “too close to call.”

Clinton, on stage with husband Bill and daughter Chelsea, vowed to fight on but also noted that, “no matter what happens, I will work for the nominee of the Democratic Party, because we must win in November.”

Obama, in his North Carolina victory speech, sounded very confident.

“You know, when this campaign began, Washington didn’t give us too much of a chance. But because you came out in the bitter cold, and knocked on doors, and enlisted your friends and neighbors in this cause, because you stood up to the cynics and the doubters and the naysayers, when we were up and when we were down, because you still believe that this is our moment and our time to change America, tonight we stand less than 200 delegates away from securing the Democratic nomination for president of the United States,” he said.

Obama had overcome a few tough weeks, especially after getting handily defeated in Pennsylvania and undergoing new scrutiny over his handling of the controversy regarding his former pastor.

Time is now running out for Clinton, who is behind in pledged delegates, total delegates, states won and total votes. It will be increasingly tough for her to convince superdelegates to remain uncommitted as momentum has clearly swung back to Obama.