Story highlights Clinton appears to have the edge going into Tuesday's primaries

Sanders is stepping up attacks on the former secretary of state over free trade

(CNN) Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders Sunday night will hold another duel in their increasingly contentious Democratic nominating marathon, two days before five states vote in crucial primaries that could set the tone for the rest of the contest.

The rivals will take part in a town hall event jointly hosted by CNN and TV One at Ohio State University and face questions from Buckeye State voters as they vie for the support of blue collar and minority voters who underpin the Democratic coalition.

The encounter, in which Clinton and Sanders will appear one after the other with CNN's Jake Tapper and TV One's Roland Martin starting at 8 p.m. ET, takes place in the wake of Sanders' surprise victory in the Michigan primary last week, which raised his hopes of competing with Clinton across Midwestern Rust Belt states.

But Clinton, who has so far built a more diverse constituency resting especially on African-American voters and Hispanics, appears to have the edge going into Tuesday's primaries in Ohio, Florida, Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina.

Still, Sanders has high hopes of good results in the Midwest in particular and has been driving his message that the economy is stacked against working Americans and underpinned by a corrupt political system.

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