In the opening weeks of the Democratic presidential primary, white male voters -- those who are Democrats and unaffiliated -- appear to be the swing voters, and the key target of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.

Both Obama and Clinton start the primary contest with significant bases of support in North Carolina.

In Greensboro on Wednesday, Obama's crowd was predominantly African-American.

Among those in the crowd was Pamela Glass, 46, an administrator of the fledgling civil rights museum in Greensboro.

Glass has long admired Clinton. "I'd love to see the world run by a woman," Glass said.

But she is backing Obama. Glass likes Obama for a lot of reasons, she said. But the fact that he could become the first African-American president is huge.

"I am curious to see what he would do once in office, because he is African-American," Glass said.

White women dominated the Clinton crowds at Wake Tech and in Fayetteville on Thursday.

"I think there should be more women holding political office," said Ginny Rathbun, 69, a retired teacher from Fuquay-Varina. "We'd have a different society if we had women in charge."

"I like Obama," she said. "But I think he is a little wet behind the ears."

The split is evident at not just rallies. Public opinion polls show strong black support for Obama and strong backing by white women for Clinton -- although it should be pointed out there are white women backing Obama and blacks supporting Clinton.

With so many blacks and white women already taking sides, the key battle in the primary May 6 will be for white men.

A recent survey by the independent Public Policy Polling firm found that Obama leads Clinton 47-43 percent among white men likely to vote in the Democratic primary. As pollster Tom Jensen notes, Obama has won other states when he is competitive with Clinton for the votes of white men.

If Clinton is going to have a chance to beat Obama in North Carolina, she has to do better with Bubba.

Last week, the Clinton campaign had a definite blue-collar flavor.

Clinton launched her campaign at a community college, talking about bread-and-butter economic issues such as jobs and the cost of gasoline.

It is why her spouse, former President Bill Clinton, spent Friday in the foothills of Western North Carolina -- a largely white area -- fishing for the Bubba vote. At his side was one of North Carolina's chief Bubbas, former Secretary of State Rufus Edmisten.

That is also why Bill Clinton referred to his wife in un-PC terms as "a girl" as he talked during a recent appearance in Cary about her support from retired military brass.

Obama is also working hard for the Bubba vote.

On Friday, Obama began running his first TV commercial in North Carolina. It seems clearly aimed at Bubba.

"Ordinary people all across the country are struggling from paycheck to paycheck," Obama says in the ad. "If the plant moves to China, and you have been working there 20 to 30 years, and you suddenly have the rug pulled out from under you, and you don't have health care, and you don't have a pension, you are on your own."

Clinton and Obama may be non-traditional candidates. But both are shopping for traditional voters in North Carolina.