SMITHFIELD, N.C. -- Digging his plastic fork into a succulent mound of chopped pork, John Davis, 64, says he'll vote for Hillary Clinton next week but "not because I like her. Because I have no other choice."
Joseph Gregory, sitting across the table at White Swan Bar-B-Q and Fried Chicken, said he seriously considered Barack Obama and "tried to put the race part out of it." But repeated controversies over remarks by the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., Obama's former pastor, have pushed the 56-year-old government worker firmly into Clinton's camp.
A rise in support for Clinton has turned the North Carolina Democratic primary into an unexpectedly competitive contest, one that could have enormous consequences for the nomination.
The New York senator still faces an uphill challenge in the state, which has a large black population, and Obama is expected to win. However, a Clinton victory in North Carolina - the sort of game-changing surprise that some say she'd need to become the Democratic presidential nominee - no longer seems out of the question.
Her recent gains are the result of several factors. She is waging an exhaustive campaign, as is her husband, former President Bill Clinton, who plans to appear in 40 North Carolina communities by primary day.
She's addressing economic concerns, particularly high fuel prices, and promoting her plan for a gas-tax holiday. She received the endorsement of Gov. Michael F. Easley, the state's top Democrat, who praises her, in a new TV ad, as "resilient" and "determined."
She has also benefited from her rival's struggles. Obama's attempts to reach out to middle-class whites were overshadowed by his news conference in Winston-Salem, where he denounced Wright's most recent comments about race.
Rep. G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina, a leading Obama supporter and member of a pioneering black political family, said Obama had been damaged by the Wright episode. Recent statewide polling found that Obama's double-digit lead in North Carolina had been sliced in half and now stands at roughly 6 percentage points.
Obama supporters such as Andrew Waters, 38, who works for a nonprofit conservation group in Salisbury, N.C., are cringing over the Wright affair. "It hurts the Obama campaign," he said. "I don't understand why they can't get him to chill out until next January."
