Hillary Rodham Clinton could be spending a lot more time at home in Chappaqua if she gets shut out in today’s Democratic presidential primaries in North Carolina and Indiana.

But one early indicator from the Indiana bellwether county of Delaware indicates the Clinton has a shot at winning at least one of the two contests.

A Monday telephone survey in Delaware County of households likely to vote Democratic found Clinton leading Barack Obama 44 percent to 37 percent. But the poll by the Suffolk University Political Research Center had a 7 point margin of error and 16 percent of voters remained undecided.

Suffolk University selected its Indiana bellwether using the same statistical analysis it successfully used earlier this year to select bellwethers for the Democratic primaries in New Hampshire, California, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Ohio and Pennsylvania as well as the Republican primary in Florida.

No bellwether was selected for North Carolina, where traditional polling shows Obama with a small lead over Clinton going into today’s voting.

Reporters at Gannett newspapers in Indiana and North Carolina talked to voters at polling places earlier today and collected their comments. Here are some of them:

Mark Dexter, a 51-year-old Republican from Lafayette, Indiana attended a Clinton rally last week. He was undecided at that time, but went to the polls at 6:30 a.m. to vote for Clinton. His reason: she did a better job laying out what she planned to do as president. “Barack says he’s going to do all these things…but he doesn’t give any specifics,” Dexter said. He liked what Clinton said about trying to get the economy going again, attacking gas prices, and tackling health care. “I’m a Republican,” he said. “I’m just not at all happy with the current administration. Something has got to be done.”

Adam Martinez, 27, of Richmond, Indiana was a first time voter today. “I didn’t make up my mind until I literally voted,’’ Martinez said. “I just felt we had two really good candidates which made it hard to choose. I voted for Clinton because I’ve been able to get more information about where she stands on things like health care, education and high gas prices. And I always liked Bill Clinton. He did a lot for this country. I’ve been following this for the last year.”

Kate Hayward, 37, entered the Broad Ripple Family Center in Indianapolis to vote wearing a T-shirt that said “Another Mama for Obama.” Her young daughters wore “Obama Girl” T-shirts. She’s a Democrat, though her husband, a Republican, also voted for Obama, she said.
“He has a completely fresh approach to politics,” Hayward said. “I think he’s a bridge builder, and we definitely need that right now.”
Clinton turned her off, she said. “I think she’s divisive, and I think she’s been pandering—long before the gas tax issue.”
Hayward took her oldest daughter, Maggie, 5, to an Obama rally in Plainfield.
“She has a lot of songs she’s made up,” Hayward said. “She gets it in a 5-year-old context.”

For Keith Saunders, 48, of Indianapolis, his decision to vote for Barack Obama was based in the belief that he is an honest man who can lead. “Experience is nice,” said Saunders, a health care manager. “But being able to make good decisions is rare.” Saunders cited Clinton’s proposed gas tax holiday as a reason not to vote for her, adding that he was glad Obama wasn’t afraid to stand up and speak the truth about the maneuver. “At worst it’s a ploy and at best it shows how she puts credence in handlers rather than the people she’s brought here to represent,” he said. “Why didn’t anybody do the math on that?”

In Asheville, N.C., many of the interviews were with Obama voters.

“I’m tired of the old policies Clinton likes to keep,” said Jared Leisey, 21, a delivery truck driver for a local bakery who voted for Obama because of his message. Tacy Apostolik, a therapist and artist who described herself as in her 40s, said that Obama “represents change and that is what we need.” Jeremy Bacon, 78, said he voted for Obama because he believes he is the only candidate who can bring about change. “It’s risky to take a person who hasn’t been specific about how he’ll do what but he’s the only person, much more so than the ex-president’s wife, who stands a chance of changing the direction of things,” he said. Bacon said the decision to vote for Obama wasn’t an easy one. “Hillary is very smart and has a lot of experience,” he said. “But she would not be different enough to make the kind of change I think we need.”