— IN THE HEADLINES

Obama, Clinton both seek ties to struggling working families ... Obama wins superdelegate support despite troubled times ... Obama seeks FEC investigation of Democratic group airing anti-Obama ads ... Huckabee: Rev. Jeremiah Wright needs Obama to lose to justify his views ... No matter how Obama handles Wright, some supporters won't be happy

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Obama, Clinton court working families

BEECH GROVE, Ind. (AP) _ Barack Obama teamed up with wife Michelle on Wednesday to court working families with a little kitchen table conversation about tax cuts. Rival Hillary Rodham Clinton hitched a ride in a pickup truck to a gas pump to illustrate the pain inflicted on ordinary families by skyrocketing prices.

Clinton was underscoring her call for a summer-long hiatus on collecting the federal gas tax by pulling into a South Bend gas station with sheet metal worker Jason Wilfing, 33, who pumped regular unleaded.

"Sixty-three dollars for just about half a tank," exclaimed Clinton.

The Obamas headed to suburban Beech Grove, where they had lunch and chatted with Mike and Cheryl Fischer, hearing their stories of struggle. He's a machinist at a local Amtrak facility where 77 jobs are threatened this summer.

Their tactics were different, but the goal for both Democratic presidential candidates was to connect with blue-collar workers who will play a key role in primaries Tuesday in Indiana and North Carolina.

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Obama closing superdelegate gap

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Barack Obama is closing in on Democratic presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton's advantage among superdelegates, building on his lead in the primary race even as he faces troubled times.

Party leaders are encouraging superdelegates to pick a side by late June to prevent the fight from going to the national convention in August, and it seems some are listening as the race enters its final five weeks of voting.

Chelsea Clinton got a superdelegate for her mom while campaigning in Puerto Rico on Wednesday, just as Obama press secretary Bill Burton sent out a statement announcing the support of Rep. Lois Capps. The statement didn't mention the personal connection _ Capps is Burton's mother-in-law.

Clinton had a big jump start among superdelegates, many of whom have ties to the Clintons and backed her candidacy early on. But most of the superdelegates taking sides recently have gone for Obama, who has won more state contests.

Obama trails Clinton by 21 superdelegates, 243-264, cutting her lead in half in less than two months. This week, he picked up seven delegates to her four.

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Obama wants pro-Clinton group investigated

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Barack Obama's presidential campaign wants federal regulators to investigate fellow Democrats who are backing Hillary Rodham Clinton's candidacy, taking intraparty discord to a new level of confrontation.

Obama's campaign lawyer, Robert Bauer, filed a complaint Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission, accusing the pro-Clinton American Leadership Project of violating campaign finance laws by running ads against Obama.

The group is largely financed by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and is run by Democratic operatives, many of them based in California and who have past connections to Clinton or her husband. Its organizers say they are abiding by the law and a 2007 Supreme Court ruling.

That ruling opened the door for organizations to air issue ads that mention political candidates, as long as they did not explicitly call for their election or defeat. The FEC followed up with a regulation that gave outside groups more latitude to run ads during elections.

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Huckabee: Rev. Wright needs Obama to lose

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) _ Former Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said Wednesday that Barack Obama's bid for the White House is not being derailed because he is black but because his former pastor does not want him to prove the country's race relations have progressed.

Obama, a Democrat, has struggled in recent weeks to distance himself from incendiary comments made by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

"His campaign is not being derailed by his race, it's being derailed by a person who doesn't want him to prove that we have made great advances in this country," Huckabee told reporters following a fundraiser for Montana gubernatorial candidate Roy Brown.

Wright has claimed AIDS was created by the government to kill "people of color" and that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were spurred by the United State's "terrorism" against minorities at home and abroad.

"Jeremiah Wright needs for Obama to lose so he can justify his anger, his hostile bitterness against the United States of America," Huckabee said.

On Tuesday, Obama, an Illinois senator, said he was outraged by Wright's comments and denounced the remarks as "giving comfort to those who prey on hate."

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Obama's quandary over preacher reflects supporters' divide

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) _ Thirteen hours after his former pastor startled some with a defiant performance that was televised nationwide, Barack Obama urged 18,000 supporters to stay calm and shrug off such "distractions."

By the next afternoon, however, his tone was dramatically different.

The Illinois senator summoned reporters Tuesday to say he was outraged by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's "divisive and destructive" remarks, scrambling to contain the flare-up in a controversy that has dogged him since clips of some of Wright's most objectionable remarks began circulating on TV and the Internet.

Obama said he belatedly condemned Wright's remarks because he did not see a transcript or video of Monday's appearance until the next day.

Doubtless, too, campaign aides were inundated with calls and messages Tuesday urging a stronger reaction.

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DAILY TRACK

Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are statistically tied nationally in the Democratic presidential race, according to the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update.

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THE DELEGATE BREAKDOWN

Barack Obama: 1731.5

Hillary Rodham Clinton: 1598.5

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THE DEMOCRATS

Hillary Rodham Clinton discussed jobs with voters in Indiana. Barack Obama had lunch and held meetings with local families in the Hoosier State.

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THE REPUBLICANS

John McCain held a meeting on health care in Allentown, Pa.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"We're going to send Jessica Simpson to the Democrat National Convention." _ President Bush, joking with the New York Giants football team about Simpson, who as girlfriend to Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo supposedly brought bad luck to the team.

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STAT OF THE DAY:

John Kerry won 73 percent of the vote in Indiana's 2004 Democratic presidential primary. The election's turnout was 317,211.

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Compiled by Ann Sanner.

(This version corrects to South Bend, not Indianapolis, the location of the gas station Clinton visited.)