INDIANAPOLIS | Presidential hopefuls and U.S. Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama pledged to lead a resurgence of the middle class Sunday to a swelled crowd of 2,300 gathered for the Indiana Democratic Party's annual fundraiser.

"It is long past time for us to pay attention to the bread-and-butter, kitchen-table issues that determine whether or not people feel like they're going to have a chance at the American dream," Clinton said. "George Bush has dug us into a very deep hole, and we need a president who knows what it takes and has what it takes to get us out and to move forward again. That's what I'm offering in this campaign."

The Democratic contenders, in the state competing for the 72 delegates up for grabs in Tuesday's primary, also contrasted their energy policies during separate half-hour speeches at the Jefferson Jackson Day Dinner.

New York Sen. Clinton highlighted her push to suspend the 18.4 cent federal fuel tax this summer and underwrite the savings with a new tax on oil industry profits.

"This is an idea that would save you (each) 30 cents a day," Illinois Sen. Obama told the crowd. "That's if the oil companies don't simply jack up the prices, as they've done before. Does anybody here really trust the oil companies to give you the savings instead of pocketing the money themselves? It is a shell game, literally."

Clinton continued to tout her experience as an indication of her readiness to take up the reins as president. Obama, meanwhile, sought to connect with blue-collar Hoosiers, recalling his grandfather's service in World War II, the food stamps his single mother once relied on and his work as a community organizer in Chicago.

"Politics didn't lead me to working people," Obama said. "Working people led me to politics."

Both Democrats blasted the Bush administration and argued John McCain, this year's presumptive Republican presidential nominee, would offer little improvement.

The state's Democratic luminaries seemed a bit star struck Sunday night, employing superlatives to describe both the dinner lineup and Tuesday's Hoosier state showdown between Obama and Clinton.

Lake County Sheriff Rogelio "Roy" Dominguez, on stage to introduce gubernatorial candidate Jill Long Thompson, said he was "so proud to be here representing Northwest Indiana on this historic night for our state and our country."

Prior to their speeches, mentions of Obama or Clinton drew discordant roars of applause from the crowd.

U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., acknowledged the divide, as well as the disappointment an eventual resolution to the party's drawn-out nomination process will bring many Democrats. But Bayh, a Clinton supporter, urged unity and invited the eventual nominee back to the Hoosier state, declaring that "this November, for the first time in 44 years we're going to move Indiana into the Democratic column."