Clinton, Obama, predict fight stretches to June 3

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WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton took their fight over gas price relief to the morning talk shows today as they braced for the crucial Indiana and North Carolina primaries.

In comments on most major cable and network programs, the two White House hopefuls expressed confidence in their chances of winning the Tuesday contests but refused to predict that voting this week would be decisive enough to end the primary fight and begin the general election against putative GOP nominee John McCain.

On NBC’s Today show, Obama predicted that after the final contests June 3 in Montana and South Dakota, “We will be in a position to make a decision who the Democratic nominee is going to be,” he said. “I will be the Democratic nominee.”

Clinton refused to predict Tuesday’s results, but said her campaign has made up some ground after falling behind.

“I think we’ve closed the gap,” she said on CNN’s American Morning.

Much of the exchange today centered on proposals Clinton has embraced to give drivers some relief from soaring gas prices. Clinton pushed her plan for a summer suspension of the gasoline tax, which she would pay for with a windfall profit tax on oil companies.

Obama called that plan a gimmick, and many economists expressed skepticism. In a CBS News/New York Times poll released Sunday, 49 percent of voters said they thought lifting the gas tax for the summer was a bad idea. Only 45 percent thought it was a good idea.

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