It is now gut check time for the two remaining Democrats in the race for the White House, as they rumble towards a showdown a week from today on March 4 that could either end this race or prolong it into May.

Pity the states of Vermont and Rhode Island for having their primaries scheduled on the same day as Ohio, known as the bellwether of modern Presidential elections, and Texas, a giant of a state in whatever the subject might be.

Initial polls showed Hillary Clinton with a sizeable lead in Ohio.  Not surprisingly, that has shrunk.  In Texas, the polls have shown a very competitive race.  Simply put, these are two states that Clinton must win.  A Barack Obama win in either (or both) could well end this race.

Exactly that was on the mind of Obama's team as they sent out an email to supporters Monday evening entitled "One Week to Showdown."

In it, Obama says March 4th could prove to be "the decisive day in this campaign."

"We started behind in the two biggest states that will vote on March 4th, Ohio and Texas, but as we spend time on the ground, we are gaining strength," Obama said in the fundraising appeal.

While much of Monday was spent trying to figure out who sent the Drudge Report the photo of Barack Obama in some kind of African outfit, Hillary Clinton used a speech in Washington, D.C. to attack Obama's credentials on foreign policy.

"He wavers from seeming to believe that mediation and meetings without preconditions can solve some of the world's most intractable problems to advocating rash, unilateral military action without the cooperation of our allies in the most sensitive part of the world," Clinton said at Georgetown University.

Obama referred to that speech while giving his take on Photogate.

"The notion that the Clinton campaign would be trying to circulate this as a negative on the same day that Senator Clinton was giving a speech about how we repair our relationships around the world is sad."