Obama sweeps up more superdelegates

Barack Obama’s march toward the Democratic presidential nomination picked up support from four more superdelegates, pushing him ever closer to victory over Hillary Clinton – even as their primary marathon staggered on.

She added two superdelegates – party grandees – herself in what has become the last big contest as their race winds toward a finish.

The superdelegates are elected officials and party insiders who can vote as they like at the party’s nominating convention in August.

There are just 217 delegates to be chosen in the final six primaries, and neither candidate can win enough of them to claim final victory.

Meanwhile, 265 additional delegates – the party elders and other “superdelegates” – have yet to be claimed, and their support will be the deciding factor.

Though Mr Obama padded his delegate lead in Tuesday’s primaries, most uncommitted superdelegates still want to remain on the sidelines.

However, the comments of some of the uncommitteds were anything but encouraging for Mrs Clinton.

“I’m just wondering about the viability of Clinton’s campaign at this point,” said Laurie Weahkee, an add-on delegate from New Mexico.

“I really want to hear from her more about if she wants to stay in the race - if the reason remains very concrete.”

Pennsylvania Representative Mike Doyle said Mrs Clinton’s pitch to superdelegates has been that she can win the popular vote, but that was undercut when Mr Obama netted more than 200,000 popular votes in the Tuesday contests.

“The math just got very tough for her after last night,” Mr Doyle said. “I think most of us out of respect for her are content to wait a little longer. ... The absolute best way for this to end is for the candidates to end it, not the superdelegates. That’s the ending we all dream about every night.”

She picked up two in the wake of Tuesday’s loss in North Carolina and narrow victory in Indiana. North Carolina Representative Heath Shuler had said he would support the winner of his district, and she won it handily.

A spokeswoman for Texas labour leader Robert Martinez said he is committed to Mrs Clinton, but it wasn’t clear when he made the decision.

But she lost another supporter, Virginia state House member Jennifer McClellan.

Ms McClellan is one of at least nine superdelegates who have switched from Mrs Clinton to Mr Obama since the Super Tuesday primaries on February 5. There have been no public switches in the other direction.

“I think the time has come to support Senator Obama as the likely nominee,” Ms McClellan said in a conference call with reporters. “Given what happened last night, it’s very unlikely we will have a different result, and it is time to come together as a party and prepare for victory against John McCain in November.”

Mr Obama also got the support of North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Meek, North Carolina Democratic National Committee member Jeanette Council and California DNC member Inola Henry.

Mrs Clinton met with undecided superdelegates at Democratic Party headquarters Wednesday.

She said: “We talked a lot about Florida and Michigan,” two states that she won but don’t have any delegates to count toward her total because their early primaries violated party rules.

“I continue to emphasise and stress that we cannot disenfranchise those voters.”

The Democratic National Committee stripped Florida and Michigan of their convention delegates – a total of 366 – after the two states violated party rules and scheduled early primaries.

Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama agreed not to campaign in either state, and Mr Obama joined other candidates in removing their names from Michigan’s ballot.

Mrs Clinton said later that she would be sending a letter to Mr Obama and Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean expressing her belief that seating the Florida and Michigan delegations is a civil rights and voting rights issue.

Former President Jimmy Carter said that delegates from Florida and Michigan should not be counted at the Democratic National Convention because they “disqualified themselves,” and he warned of a disaster if party insiders try to wrest the nomination from the candidate with the largest number of votes and state victories.

An attempt by so-called Democratic superdelegates to override the popular vote “would be an almost unacceptable thing,” Mr Carter told Jay Leno on The Tonight Show. “It would be a catastrophe for the party.”

Mr Obama was to make his pitch to the congressional fence sitters in meetings today. He also planned to start travelling to swing states to signal that the general election has begun.