Hampered by slumping support and relying on desperate, pathetic political games, Hillary Clinton heads into tonight’s debate trying to slow Barack Obama’s roaring momentum before next week’s critical primaries.

Hanging by a thread ahead of must-win Ohio and Texas primaries March 4, the former First Lady has dropped 11 straight electoral contests.

Obama is carving wide leads in national Democratic polls - a CBS News / New York Times survey gave Obama a 54-38 percent lead among U.S. Democrats, and a USA Today poll has him leading 51-39 percent.

A day after a Texas primary poll showed Obama leading for the first time so far this year, a Rasmussen Reports survey Tuesday showed Obama cut her lead among Ohio Democrats to just five points, 48-43 percent.

Last week, Obama had 40 percent. The week before, 38 percent.

Barack Obama also landed a nice endorsement today in former White House hopeful, liberal champion and Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd.

Trying to remain above the fray as the frontrunner, Obama heads into the debate in Cleveland with polls showing Clinton’s support slipping and newspaper stories detailing the internal conflict battering her campaign.

Clinton’s tone will be closely watched. In a debate last week in Austin, Tx., she was expected to go on the attacked, but offered a few (poorly received) attacks such as claiming Obama offers change you can Xerox.

The issue? They have no message. Details.

As Clinton and Obama fight this escalating war of attrition, the stakes get higher and the tactics dirtier. A controversial photo of Barack dressed in a traditional African robe and turban mysteriously emerged yesterday.

The picture - taken during an official visit to Kenya in 2006 - brought attention to Obama’s background in a campaign where issues of race and religion have always lurked just beneath the surface.

Fortunately, Clinton needs blowout wins in Ohio and Texas to erase Obama’s lead in the delegate race, and she’s heading the opposite direction.

As Bill Clinton can surely attest, the best way to win a campaign filled with dirty attacks (baseless or not) is the perception of being smeared.

Barack Obama is now the frontrunner in this race, and if he holds his own tonight, without stooping to Hillary’s level, we can take one step closer to finally sticking a fork in her flawed, fraudulent campaign.