By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer

DURHAM, N.C. (Posted May 6, 2008) – Just hours before the polls opened in North Carolina this morning, Sen. Barack Obama made his last case before voters at a town hall meeting here in Durham.  

“I want your vote, and I want it bad,” he told the 200 folks gathered during an extended lunch break to hear what he had to say.

The crowd appeared receptive; they were invited by a fellow employee David Jones, who introduced Obama saying, “He understands us.”  

Obama was speaking to employees at CREE LED lighting.  The company is a new business  hoping to make incandescent light bulbs obsolete.  They have designed light bulbs using energy-efficient, environmentally friendly LED lighting.   The event allowed Obama to also talk about creating more “green jobs” and his energy policy.

Obama challenged the undecided voters in the audience, “If you’re undecided, I hope you’ll ask me questions.” 

Richella Bell, 35, of Durham was undecided when she arrived but an Obama supporter by the time she left.  “I thought this was great, and I liked his thoughts on the economy,” she said. “The gas situation has really touched me – and I will cast my vote for him.” While Sen. Hillary Clinton is pushing for a “gas-tax holiday,” which ultimately would save Americans about $28, Bell and others are concerned that the reward is little more than an election-day gimmick with little long-term relief. They contend that it is far more courageous to stand against such a plan while pressing for more sustained efforts to reduce gas prices as well as our reliance on foreign fuel. Obama has proposed such ideas, say Bell and others.

North Carolina and Indiana, who are holding their primaries today,   offer a value-added bounty to the state’s delegate pool because they didn’t move their primaries up to an earlier date. 

North Carolina got an additional 24 delegates for moving its presidential primary from April to May and Indiana got six extra delegates for keeping its primary in May.   North Carolina has 115 pledged delegates at stake; Indiana has 72.

Scott McGrath, 30, of Durham was an Obama supporter when he arrived, and nothing changed during the town hall.   “I was particularly moved by his speech on race,” he told me.  McGrath was initially looking at New Mexico Gov.  Richardson and former Sen. John Edwards, (N.C.). 
“At first I wasn’t sure he would be able to take the challenges from the other side, but I’m positive now he can,” McGrath said.

Of the 4,049 Democratic delegates, Obama has netted 1,491 pledged to Clinton’s 1,339.  Clinton leads Obama with 269super-delegates  to Obama’s 255.  Today’s contests won’t deliver a knock-out punch in the numbers game, but it will stall, stoke or re-start either Clinton’s or Obama’s momentum.