Both need to change the political chemistry of their races -- and they must do it soon or they will see their political careers flash before their eyes.

Clinton is trailing Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential race. Obama has won a string of primary victories and a growing list of endorsements. If Clinton does not win the Texas and Ohio primaries March 4, her presidential bid may be history.

Moore, the two-term state treasurer, is not in as much trouble as Clinton. After all, nobody will vote in the Democratic primary contest for governor until May 6. But right now, events seem to be flowing in the direction of his rival, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue.

Perdue, who is seeking to become the state's first female governor, leads Moore in most public opinions polls by about 10 percentage points.

Moore has spent $1 million on TV ads -- as has Perdue -- without cutting into Perdue's lead.

Perdue's standing is based, in part, on her strong showing among women and African-Americans. (The Perdue campaign recently sent tens of thousands of automatic telephone messages featuring former U.S. Rep. Eva Clayton into black households.)

Perdue is playing the old Muhammad Ali rope-a-dope, avoiding debates likely to be seen by a large TV audience, and so denying her opponent any additional visibility.

Andy Taylor, a political scientist at N.C. State University, says Moore appears to be borrowing the strategy of Mike Easley in 2000 -- the last time there was an open Democratic primary for governor. Running as an outsider, Easley defeated Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker, portraying him as the insider. The Moore campaign has the same consultant Easley used -- Jay Reiff.

But Easley, who was then a two-term attorney general, was a genuine outsider. Even today, Easley is not a beloved figure in his own party.

Moore, having worked his way up the political ladder as a state legislator, crime control secretary and treasurer, has a harder time selling himself as an outsider.

He is portraying Perdue as an old-style politician engaged in cronyism on highways and in other areas. But that is a difficult argument for Moore to make, because he has raised large sums of campaign money from Wall Street firms that do business with the treasurer's office.

Moore is also running on some green-eyeshade issues that are more likely to help him in the fall than in a primary. Running as a successful pension fund manager is not the kind of issue that is likely to get one elected governor.

Having said all of that, Moore is such an attractive combination of brains, looks and charm that Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt predicted in 1994 that if Moore were to win his congressional race that year -- he lost -- he would rise to become speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Despite Moore's struggles, Taylor argues, it is too early to count Moore out.

"It's still relatively close," Taylor said. "This is not a Perdue blowout by any stretch of the imagination. A lot of people's views have hardened in the presidential race. But in the gubernatorial race, a lot of people have not engaged."

But the clock is ticking.