UST 48 hours ago, Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the Democrat presidential nomination was in trouble. After her victories Tuesday in Ohio and Texas, she is back in the race. What seems to be happening is that since Barack Obama emerged as the front-runner — he still has more delegates than Hillary — so he is coming under closer scrutiny. Compared with the stiff, sometimes bad-tempered Hillary performances, Obama has impressed with his rhetoric and his undoubted charisma. But now voters and press alike are beginning to question the substance behind his fine words.

There is a sense in which Obama is coming to resemble former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, all spin and little substance and Democrat voters are becoming uneasy. Their concerns are likely to be heightened by the fact that John McCain’s has secured the Republican nomination. People are rightly asking themselves which is the better candidate to go up against him in November — the personable but largely untried Obama or the experienced and tough Hillary, who from two terms as first lady already knows and understands the considerable challenges of the White House?

Had Hillary lost in Texas and Ohio, Democrat Party chiefs were reportedly preparing themselves to demand she quit the race, so as to avoid further bruising battles that could damage the party’s image with the wider electorate before the presidential contest proper. The revelations about Obama’s relationship with a Chicago businessman who has just gone on trial for fraud may however have given them pause for thought. Hillary’s victories this week may even be a relief to senior Democrats who would rather have a seasoned professional politician on the ticket. Her successes have certainly come at a psychologically important moment. There are two more small primaries this month, in Wyoming and Mississippi with 45 delegate votes at stake, but the next big trial of strength will be April 22 in Pennsylvania with 158 delegate votes to be won.

The Hillary campaign, its morale restored, has only to keep on repeating the well-established mantra that their candidate has the experience and the feistiness to beat McCain to the presidency. Obama’s people by contrast have a problem. Hillary once complained that the press always asked her the awkward questions. Now they seem to have shifted their fire to Obama and he has appeared to come unstuck on some policy issues, such as his inconsistency in his opposition to the NAFTA — the North American Free Trade Area.

It could be argued that Obama’s victories so far have been driven by emotion. His key promise has always been “Change”. And for Americans deeply worried about their economy and unhappy if not ashamed at their country’s bungled world role, change sounds appealing. But change to what? Though Obama has a full portfolio of policies, they have to an extent been eclipsed by the man himself. Can this bright and appealing young black lawyer really beat McCain, or will the avuncular old war veteran easily tear him to shreds — something surely much harder to do to the street-wise Hillary Clinton?