Barack Obama surpassed Hillary Clinton for the first time in the fight for the all-important superdelegates whose votes will be decisive in choosing the Democratic party’s White House nominee.

At least three Democratic superdelegates pledged to back the African-American senator Saturday — one of them formerly in Clinton’s column — marking a new milestone in his quest to represent the party in November’s presidential election.
With Clinton gaining one new endorsement, based on the RealClearPolitics count, Obama’s total reached 274 to her 271.
It marked a rapid change of fortune for Clinton, who though trailing Obama in the committed delegates from the primaries had maintained a solid lead in superdelegates — a select group of 795 of the party elite who cast votes for whomever they choose in the nominating contest.

And while neither candidate was acting overtly as if the race was over — Obama was pitching for votes Saturday in Oregon ahead of its May 20 primary, while Clinton held a Mothers Day fund-raising event in New York — the writing appeared on the wall for the former first lady.

“Despite what some in the media are saying, this race is not over,” Clinton reportedly told her superdelegate supporters in a conference call Saturday, according to a TalkingPointsMemo reporter who listened in to the call.

The new endorsements Saturday marked a clear reversal of fortune for Clinton, a New York senator and wife of former president Bill Clinton, who is seeking to become the first woman US president.

In early February, she had 90 more superdelegates in her corner than Obama, and although he slowly chipped away at her lead, just a week ago she was still ahead by 17.

But his convincing win in North Carolina and their photo-finish in Indiana on Tuesday left him with an unassailable lead in pledged delegates and opened the floodgates for superdelegates to flock to his side.

“I’m proud to support Barack Obama for president,” Arizona House of Representatives member Harry Mitchell said in Chicago.

“Like the primary voters of my congressional district … I am inspired by Barack’s vision for America, his ability to unify our country and bring much-needed to change to Washington,” added the Democrat, one of at least 10 superdelegates announcing their backing for Obama since Friday.

“I think he’s the right guy to unify our party and our country,” California superdelegate Edward Espinoza said on his website.

“I hold much respect for the Clintons and their contributions to this country. However, this race is clearly headed in one direction and it’s time for us to coalesce around one candidate,” Espinoza said.

With only six primaries now left in their marathon battle to face down Republican John McCain in November’s presidential vote, Clinton’s chances of beating Obama were extremely steep.

Based on the RealClearPolitics count, on Saturday Obama had a total of 1,865 of the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the party’s nomination, while Clinton trailed with 1,697.

He also had a solid lead in the popular vote, another key to the race.

In another ominous sign, national pollster Rasmussen Reports announced it was halting surveys. “The race is over … Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee,” is said.

Clinton has vowed no surrender and plunged straight back into campaigning before the May 13 primary in West Virginia, where she is favored in polls. On Thursday and Friday she was in Oregon, which will hold its primary along with Kentucky on May 20.

“We were flying against the wind, but you know that’s the story of my life. Fly against the wind, you’ll get there eventually,” she told supporters in Oregon late Thursday.

She also faced new pressure to bow out after making controversial remarks to USA Today newspaper Thursday about white voters not supporting Obama.

Clinton referenced polls that she said “found how Senator Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states (Indiana and North Carolina) who had not completed college were supporting me.”

Speaking in Oregon Saturday, Obama dismissed concerns that the party would be divided on racial lines.

“I know theres a lot of concern about division. Let me assure you, this party is going to be unified next November.”

Article source:

The New Straits Times

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama took a big step toward the Democratic presidential nomination with an easy victory in North Carolina on Tuesday, and Hillary Clinton vowed to keep her struggling campaign alive after narrowly winning Indiana.

US Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama speaks to supporters at his North Carolina and Indiana primary election night rally in Raleigh, North Carolina May 6, 2008. (REUTERS/Ellen Ozier)

The results helped Obama widen his lead over Clinton in the grueling Democratic duel for the right to face Republican John McCain in November’s presidential election with just six nominating contests remaining.

Both candidates looked ahead to contests next week in West Virginia and May 20 in Oregon and Kentucky, but Clinton was nearly out of opportunities to change the course of the race.

“We have seen that it’s possible to overcome the politics of division and distraction, that it’s possible to overcome the same old negative attacks that are always about scoring points and never about solving our problems,” Obama said at a victory rally in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The Illinois senator’s 14-point victory in North Carolina was a dramatic comeback from a difficult campaign stretch that began last month with a big loss in Pennsylvania and was prolonged by the controversy over racially charged comments by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Obama, 46, sounded like he was already focused on the general election showdown with McCain. “This fall, we intend to march forward as one Democratic Party, united by a common vision for this country,” said Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president.

The results meant Clinton missed her best chance to narrow Obama’s lead in pledged delegates who will help pick the nominee at August’s convention. She won Indiana by just 23,000 votes out of more than 1.25 million votes cast in the state, but promised to keep up the fight.

“It’s full speed on to the White House,” Clinton said at a victory rally in Indianapolis, with her husband former President Bill Clinton standing behind her. “We’ve got a long road ahead, but we’re going to keep fighting.”

Clinton, a 60-year-old New York senator and former first lady who would be the country’s first woman president, asked the Indianapolis crowd for donations to keep alive her campaign, which has been heavily outspent by Obama.

Early on Wednesday Clinton was to head West Virginia where polls show she is in the lead ahead of that state’s May 13 contest. “For too long, we’ve let places like West Virginia and Kentucky slip out of the Democratic column … I intend to win them in November in the general election,” she said on Tuesday.

OBAMA WIDENS LEAD IN DELEGATES

An MSNBC count showed Obama expanded his delegate edge by a net of nine in the two states. Obama now has 1,876 total delegates to Clinton’s 1,729, still short of the 2,025 needed to clinch the nomination.

But neither candidate can win without help from super delegates — nearly 800 party insiders and officials who are free to back any candidate — and the results on Tuesday undermined Clinton’s argument that she is the candidate with the best chance to beat McCain in November.

With just 217 delegates at stake in the last six contests, Clinton has no realistic chance to overtake Obama’s lead in pledged delegates or in popular votes won in the state-by-state battle for the nomination that began in January.

“We’re nearing the finish line,” Obama’s chief strategist David Axelrod told reporters. “I think we’ve taken another big step down the road here to ending this contest and beginning the general election campaign.”

Clinton still hopes to find a way to seat delegates from Michigan and Florida, where she won contests in January that are not recognized by the national party because of a dispute over when they were held.

Clinton’s campaign said the race was far from over.

“They’ve been trying to wrap up this nomination over the will of the voters for a long time, and it hasn’t worked,” said Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee. “There’s a funny thing about democracy. Voters like to have a say.”

Exit polls showed the faltering U.S. economy, which has increasingly preoccupied voters around the country, was the top issue for two-thirds of Indiana voters and about 6 of every 10 voters in North Carolina.

In the last week, the two Democrats had courted working- and middle-class voters suffering from an ailing economy and high gas prices and battled over Clinton’s proposal to lift the federal gasoline tax for the summer.

(Additional reporting by Caren Bohan and Jeff Mason)

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