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WASHINGTON (AP) -- If the long-running Democratic presidential race were a play, Republicans would be clamoring for even more after the six-week intermission now giving way to the Pennsylvania primary.

Little more than a month ago, few voters knew of Barack Obama's controversial pastor or Hillary Rodham Clinton's make-believe story about sniper fire in Bosnia.

Obama hadn't ruminated to his own detriment about bitterness in small-town America. And Clinton hadn't felt it necessary to rearrange her staff after her top strategist supported a Colombian free trade pact she opposes.

Obama hadn't bowled. Nor the former first lady gamely knocked back a shot of Crown Royal, then picked up a beer mug.

All this -- and more -- has occurred since the most recent Democratic primaries, Clinton's late-winter wins in Texas and Ohio on March 4 and Obama's victory in Mississippi a week later.

''We're going on, we're going strong and we're going all the way,'' Clinton had said as she breathed new energy into her candidacy.

The six-week break gave Obama time to go to the beach with his family and Clinton the opportunity to regroup after breaking an 11-state losing streak.

And it presented Republican John McCain with a chance to improve his standing in general election polls.

Obama led McCain 51-41 in a hypothetical matchup in late February, but was tied, 45-45 last week, according to polls by The Associated Press and Ipsos. What had been a 48-43 lead for Clinton was whittled to 48-45.

''Obviously, the fact that our contest is still going on means that John McCain comes in here and he's feeling pretty good,'' Obama told newspaper publishers recently, a few hours after the Republican candidate had appeared before the same group.

''I suspect he's getting more sleep than either Sen. Clinton or myself.''

In a landslide.

Look at Memphis, Tenn., site of ceremonies this month marking the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination.

With McCain's Republican nomination long since secured, the Arizona senator's chartered plane rolled to a stop the afternoon before his scheduled speech. He had time for rest and a leisurely dinner with friends. The next day, speech behind him, he flew out around dusk, bound for his home in Phoenix.

By contrast, it was 5 a.m. when Clinton made it to her hotel, only 6 hours before her speech at the church where King delivered the final sermon of his life. Then followed a series of meetings stretching into the afternoon, a flight to North Dakota for an evening speech, and a plane ride to Oregon for what remained of the night.

Increasingly, it seemed both Democrats were spending their time recovering from campaign stumbles, and criticizing one another in television ads.

In mid-March, Obama was thrown on the defensive when it was disclosed that his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, had accused the United States of bringing on the Sept. 11 attacks by spreading terrorism.

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