Obama Racks Up Superdelegate Commitments

After wining the popular vote in the Texas and Ohio primaries on March 4, it seemed that Hillary Clinton had captured the momentum in the Democratic race.

The all-important superdelegates don't seem to agree. Since Clinton's two major wins, 11 superdelegates -- as the 796 Democratic officials who get their own vote on the party's nominee are known -- have publicly declared who they are backing. Ten have publicly embraced Obama, compared to just one for Clinton. Her slight gain was canceled out by the loss of one of her superdelegate backers, former governor Eliot Spitzer of New York, who resigned his post, leaving her with a net increase of zero.

"I support Barack Obama for president because he is an inclusive candidate who is trying to unite our country, Democrats, independents, Republicans around a common purpose," said Margie Gavin Woods, a superdelegate from Illinois who is on the board of Will County, which is outside of Chicago.

While it's hardly surprising that a superdelegate from Illinois would embrace her home state senator, Obama also has collected support from officials in Ohio, Texas, Nevada, Georgia and other states since March 4.

Clinton aides said the wins on March 4 helped stem a larger group of superdelegates from heading to Obama and said she is getting some private commitments.

"The fact that she didn't lose a bunch during his long winning streak is remarkable," said a Clinton aide is involved in recruiting superdelegates.[MORE]