WASHINGTON (Map, News) - As Barack Obama heads for Indiana, political analysts said Tuesday he should build on his denunciation of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright to improve relations with the white working-class voters who were offended by the inflammatory comments of his former pastor.

“He’s got no choice but to go to Indiana and explain it as many times as he has to,” said Hank Sheinkopf, adviser to President Clinton’s 1996 campaign.

Poll numbers show that Wright’s appearance at the National Press Club on Monday, when he accused the U.S. government of provoking terrorist attacks and giving blacks the virus that causes AIDS, came at a particularly bad time for Obama.

On the heels of his loss in Pennsylvania, he lost his slight lead in Indiana, according to an average on the RealClearPolitics Web site, and he is on the verge of losing his double-digit advantage in North Carolina.

Most analysts agree that Obama should try to refocus his campaign on economic issues and other matters critical to the voters of the two states, but he should do it without dodging the Wright controversy.

“What Wright has successfully done is distract the campaign and the media coverage,” said Chris Kofinis, former communications director for the presidential campaign of John Edwards. “You address it and move on, and focus on the core challenges that are facing voters. That is what they have to focus their energies on.”

Obama is scheduled to appear at a campaign rally on the campus of Indiana University on Wednesday afternoon and will make other campaign stops in the state on Thursday.

Indiana University political science professor Lawrence J. Hanks said Obama should head to rural areas like Evansville.

“Whoever is in charge of his campaign would be prudent to send him into these communities, to churches and any sort of venue that will give him an audience with white working class voters,” Hanks said.

Obama’s efforts could be overshadowed if Wright keeps speaking out and grabbing the spotlight, said American Enterprise Institute scholar Norman Ornstein.

sferrechio@dcexaminer.com