“We have had a rough couple of weeks, I won’t deny that,” Barack Obama admitted to reporters today in Indianapolis. Since Reverend Wright’s public resurfacing last weekend, Clinton has been closing the gap in national and state polls while Obama has been putting out the flames of controversy.

It’s true that most voters don’t ask Obama about his former pastor - and today he noted if he talks about those issues important to Americans, “I think we have a terrific chance” of winning the Democratic nomination. In the meantime, he’s still facing questions from reporters about the effect his former pastor’s is having on his campaign.

When asked if he’d be upset if he lost Indiana “by a hair” because of Reverend Wright, Obama grinned. “I don’t think that what happened with Reverend Wright was helpful. Right? I don’t think there’s any denying that,” he said. “This will be something that they factor in to the mix. How it plays itself out, I can’t tell….I don’t spend a lot of time doing is obsessing about what ifs and should have beens. What I’ll do is we’ll see what happens on Tuesday and then we’re gonna keep on going to the next contest,” he shared.

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A new Clinton campaign ad in Indiana is accusing Barack Obama of refusing to help hard working families in Indiana by saying “no” to a federal gas tax holiday.

“When the housing crisis broke, Hillary Clinton called for action: a freeze on foreclosures. Barack Obama said, no,” says the narrator in Clinton’s new :30 spot, called “Trouble.”

“Now, gas prices are skyrocketing, and she’s ready to act again. Hillary’s plan: Use the windfall profits of the oil companies to pay to suspend the gas tax this summer. Barack Obama says no, again”

“People are hurting. It’s time for a president who’s ready to take action now.”

The Obama campaign calls the spot “a misleading attack ad that’s emblematic of why Washington has failed to make progress on the tough issues that face Indiana families.”

“Tens of millions without health care, families losing their homes, an economy in crisis and sky-high gas prices,” writes spokesman Hari Sevugan. “What’s the Clinton campaign’s response? More Washington-style attack ads.

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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind — Hillary Clinton’s bashed Barack Obama again today for opposing a federal gas tax holiday over the summer — and hit her potential Republican rival John McCain for proposing one but failing to pay for it.

Clinton outlined her plan to cut the price at the pump at the Miller Veneer factory in Indianapolis — where customers have started refusing shipments because of the surcharge the company has to charge to make up for the higher cost of gas. First up in her plan: “I would immediately lower gas prices by temporarily suspending the gas tax for consumers and businesses.

“We will pay for it by imposing a windfall profits tax on the big oil companies. They sure can afford it,” she said. “This is a big difference in this race. My opponent opposes giving consumers a break from the gas tax, but I believe American people are being squeezed pretty hard.”

“There are a lot of people in Indiana who would really benefit from a gas tax holiday. That may not mean a lot to my opponent, but I think it means a lot to people who are struggling here.”

The Obama campaign called Clinton’s idea part of “The same Washington gimmicks that got us into this mess in the first place,” and circulated an article by liberal economist Paul Krugman — who is generally pro-Clinton — calling the plan “pointless, and disappointing.

Clinton, of course, disagreed. “We do need short term, immediate relief,” she said. “I’ll be introducing legislation in the congress to do just that.”

“I imagine that President Bush will be against it. Anything that goes against the oil companies you can count on the two oil men in the White House being against, that kind of is something we’ve gotten used to. But we’ve got to be prepared, and we’ve got to take the case. And we’ve got to do everything we can to try to get some changes out of congress. Then we’ve got to get really in position when finally we have a new president next January to get serious about overcoming all of our energy costs and our challenges.”

When asked by reporters in Indianapolis this morning about Senator Clinton’s offer to debate sans moderator, Obama noted he only had nine more days to campaign in Indiana and North Carolina. “Rather than being in a studio, I want to make sure that we’re reaching out to folks where they live, answering their questions and having as many interactions as possible,” he explained.

But don’t rule out a debate after May 6th - “You know, I’m more than happy to consider something after Indiana and North Carolina. At this point, we just don’t have a lot of time,” Obama said.

In an interview with Fox News Sunday, Barack Obama definitively told host Chris Wallace he would not debate Hillary Clinton before the Indiana and North Carolina primaries on May 6th, but insisted he’s not “ducking” a debate with Clinton.

The candidates have met 21 times to debate during the course of this primary contest; the last one in Philadelphia focused heavily on Obama’s campaign gaffes, which prompted him to note the next day during a North Carolina town hall, “It took us 45 minutes before we even started talking about a single issue that matters to the American people.” Obama also said it was typical Washington. “They like stirring up controversy and they like playing gotcha games, and getting us to attack each other. And I have to say Senator Clinton looked in her element,” he said at the time.

Clinton said he was “complaining” - not so, Obama said. “Did you hear me complain?” he asked a reporter looking for a response. “Who’s been complaining about the media for the last six months?”

But Obama never responded to a CBS News offer to debate Clinton again in North Carolina on the 27th. When asked about it by a Raleigh voter, Obama replied, “We’re trying to figure out what our schedule looks like. But, I’ll be honest with you, you know we now had 21…I could deliver Senator Clinton’s lines, she could, I’m sure, deliver mine, so what we’ve got to figure out how we fit in campaigning actively both here in North Carolina and Indiana…we’re just trying to figure what’s the best way to reach as many constituents as possible in a relatively short period of time.”

CBS News has since cancelled the debate, but Senator Clinton has repeatedly challenged Obama to debate prior to the May 6th primaries. In the past, Obama has said the more time he spends with voters, the better they get to know him, and when you’re competing against the “Clinton brand,” that’s important.

Read the Wallace/Obama exchange below the jump.

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It’s become somewhat of a primary day tradition for Barack Obama to play basketball on the campaign trail. He’s taken on staffers, Secret Service agents, troops at Fort Bragg, and even reporters – but, save for the time he played for Real Sports, he’s never played for cameras. Until Indiana – aka the Hoosier state with a May 6th primary election.

Yesterday Barack Obama, played a little half court three-on-three with area students who won the chance to play with the candidate by registering voters - and Alison Bales, a 6’ 7” player for the WNBA. The lanky senator known as “Barry O’Bomber” when he played in high school, kept up with his younger teammates and showed at 46, he’s still got game – although at one point the winded senator joked with medics on hand that they might be needed if he dropped.

Several dozen supporters cheered the T-shirted, gum chewing senator every time he made a good play while his traveling press watched from the far set of bleachers. Obama easily scored four baskets, passed, rebounded, and stole the ball from his opponents a couple of times. He did have two turnovers to help his team to an easy 15-5 victory. If only winning the Democratic nomination were that easy.

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For those wondering - one of his Secret Service agents gave Senator Obama the USMC T-shirt.

FORT WAYNE, Ind — Senator Hillary Clinton took Indiana voters on a biographical tour in downtown Ft Wayne — relating her own middle class midwestern origins in the hopes that middle class midwesterners here might see her as one of their own.

Relating her time as a girl scout, her childhood in public parks and playgrounds, her mother’s difficult upbringing and her father’s small business struggles in suburban Chicago, and her devotion to church and Sunday school, Clinton said Midwestern values are “really at the root of who we are in this country and what makes America so special. We are a compassionate and caring nation, but we also are a country of people who want to go as far as their hard work and their motivation and vision will take them.”

The political point of her autobiographical intro? Clinton told the crowd “we need a president, especially after George Bush, who doesn’t just make speeches about American values, but understands them and lives them and believes them, make sure they are available for everybody.”

“I want you to know. I was raised by parents who said actions speak louder than words. Don’t tell me, show me,” she said. “I want you to know what I will do based on what I have done and what I know we can do together.”

And in a region that prides itself on hard work, Clinton made sure to take an indirect swipe at what she feels is her opponent’s vague ideas on how to change the country. “I believe strongly that we have to change this country, but that’s not just a slogan,” she said. “It’s going to require an enormous amount of hard work. And as [Indiana Senator and Clinton supporter] Evan [Bayh] said, if it was so easy that all we did is show up in Washington and say ‘lets change!’I think Evan and I would have figured that out awhile ago.”

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind — With the RNC and McCain campaign attacking Obama for flip-flopping on his support for a gas tax holiday today, his Democratic opponent hit him on a different energy front — saying he took more money from oil company executives than any other candidate last month.

Hillary Clinton’s attack focused on two separate Obama ads running in Hoosier Country that argue he’s more qualified to stand up to the special interests in Washington since he hasn’t taken money from lobbyists or political action committees.

“I know my opponent has run ads claiming that he does not take money from oil companies. Well, no one does. It’s illegal!” she said. “It’s been illegal for 100 years to take money from oil companies.”

“And then my opponent puts up an ad saying he doesn’t take money from oil company PACs. In March, he took more money from oil company executives than any candidate, Republican or Democrat.”

Sen Clinton also took umbrage at attacks Obama leveled at her on her own capacity to stand up to the oil companies. “Earlier today my opponent attacked me on energy issues. He claimed he would take on the special interests,” she said. “We’ve heard him say that before.”

“My late father used to say watch what they do, not what they say, and that actions speak louder than words. When it came time to stand up against the oil companies, to stand against Dick Cheney’s energy bill, my opponent voted for it and I voted against it.”

“So I think its important for you to know the facts,” she said.

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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind — Hillary Clinton told voters that her Pennsylvania win means more Americans have now cast their votes for her than any other candidate.

“I’m very proud that as of today, I have received more votes by the people who have voted than anybody else,” she said at an outdoor rally in Indianapolis. “It’s a very close race, but if you count as I count the 2.3 million people who voted in Michigan and Florida, then we are going to build on that.”

While technically true, that claim ignores the fact that Democratic frontrunner Barack Obama was not on the ballot in Michigan — allowing her to close the gap by 300,000 votes. Clinton aides say they’re also including Florida, where she’s up by another 300K, as well as estimates for Iowa, Nevada, Maine, and Washington — caucus states that haven’t reported actual vote totals but where Obama is thought to lead by about a 100,000 votes.

Leaving out all those states, Obama’s lead is just over 500,000 votes.

So why tout this measurement when its significance is suspect? Clinton advisers say they want to emphasize how close the race continues to be — and to make sure superdelegates realize that Obama can no longer claim to be winning every metric in the race.

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Following stops in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, the senator, his staff, Secret Service detail, and press corps waited on board the Obama campaign plane on a busy Philadelphia airport tarmac. Barack Obama was set to fly to Evansville, Indiana, to hold a post-Pennsylvania primary rally, but the 757 pilot announced over the PA system that we were number 18 for takeoff. After a collective groan in the cabin, the pilot announced he’d made three phone calls to try to move us up in the queue. Just a few minutes later, the pilot informed us we were number 3 for takeoff. Chalk it up to the perks of running for president.

Obama and crew were “wheels up” minutes after polls closed in Pennsylvania for the next state up to vote in the Democratic race on May 6th. During the nearly two hour flight, senior advisor David Axelrod and communications director Robert Gibbs dropped by the press section of the plane, donned in “Stop the Drama, Vote Obama” T-shirts they purchased for $10 a pop in Philadelphia. Obama, they said, was napping in the front of the cabin, and had not been following the returns.

Axelrod and Gibbs didn’t know much – only what they read on their blackberries before we took off, and when we left, the race was still too close to call. But as early returns favored Clinton, Axelrod observed, “We’ve been very clear from the beginning that we didn’t come in with oversized expectations…as this race began, we were greeted with a declaration of the spokesperson for the Clinton campaign that she was unbeatable in the state of Pennsylvania, essentially that we were wasting our time, so we thought otherwise, and you know, we’ll see what happens.”

But Axelrod was confident in his campaign’s current position - more states, more pledged delegates, and more of the popular vote than Hillary Clinton. “If you don’t think we’ve done well enough, ask the Clinton folks if they’d like to trade places with us,” he said.

Of course this was not a good night for Obama. When the frontrunner offered his congratulations to Senator Clinton during his Evansville rally, the 7,000-strong crowd enthusiastically booed. “No, no,” Obama pleaded. “She ran a terrific race.”

Just after the speech concluded, Axelrod made an appearance in the press workspace – in a button down shirt this time. This was a “home game” for Clinton, he told reporters. “We got the result that we anticipated,  and now we’re on—we’re here tonight, we’re on to North Carolina.”

With no end in sight in this Democratic brawl, Axelrod noted (prior to knowing his candidate lost), “There’s a sense of urgency about the time we’re losing, and a sense of urgency that we not you know savage each other to the benefit of Senator McCain. And as it becomes clearer that we have a delegate lead that is harder to overcome, or close to impossible over time, then the question [is] - If Senator Clinton has a legitimate chance to win the nomination then she has every reason to stay in, but if her only strategy is to try to tear down Senator Obama, then I think that will make a lot of Democrats uncomfortable.”

The campaign doesn’t think it’s likely that she will be able to pull this off, and said so in a memo emailed to reporters following Clinton’s victory. “As he has done in every state, Barack Obama campaigned hard to pick up as much support and as many delegates as possible and was able to stave off Clinton from achieving a significant pledged delegate gain from Pennsylvania. The bottom line is that the Pennsylvania outcome does not change [the] dynamic of this lengthy primary. While there were 158 delegates at stake there, there are fully 157 up for grabs in the Indiana and North Carolina primaries on May 6.”