Media Still Pursuing Obama Pastor Effect Superdel Gap Narrows

Clinton superdelegate lead cut in half
Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are fighting hard for the white working-class vote in next week's primaries, but they are also battling behind the scenes to bring on board uncommitted superdelegates who are likely to have the final say in deciding the party's presidential nominee.
Obama has cut Clinton's advantage with crucial superdelegates by half in two months and now has reaped backing from the man who ran the party apparatus in the last years of Bill Clinton's presidency.

Clinton, who stands virtually no chance of overcoming Obama in delegates chosen in state primaries and caucuses, must roll up a big lead among superdelegates — the 800 party leaders who may vote for whomever they like at the August convention — if she hopes to capture the place at the top of the Democratic ticket.

Reversing his decision to support Clinton, which he declared on the day Clinton announced her candidacy, Joe Andrew now is calling for Democrats to join him behind Obama to "heal the rift in our party."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-05-01-clinton-superdelegates_N.htm

Pa. labor leader gives Clinton a superdelegate
Thursday, May 01, 2008
By Mackenzie Carpenter, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The decision by labor leader Bill George, a Pennsylvania superdelegate, to fall off the fence and into New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's camp yesterday leaves five of the state's 30 Democratic superdelegates still undecided -- all of them congressmen, two of them from Western Pennsylvania.

And officially, at least, they're under no pressure to reveal their preferences before the primary season ends.

Mr. George, president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, announced that he was supporting Mrs. Clinton's presidential candidacy because she "was the best equipped to beat Sen. John McCain in a general election," referring to the presumptive Republican nominee.

Nationwide, Mrs. Clinton leads her opponent, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, in the superdelegate race, 263 to 243, The Associated Press reported. The superdelegates are especially valuable in this race because neither Mrs. Clinton nor Mr. Obama will be able to win enough delegates through primaries and caucuses to secure the nomination.

Mr. Obama has cut Mrs. Clinton's superdelegate lead in half in less than two months, and this week has picked up seven delegates to her four.

In the delegate count overall, Mr. Obama leads with 1,731.5 delegates to 1,597.5 for Mrs. Clinton, according to the AP's tally. A candidate needs 2,025 delegates to win the nomination. About 230 superdelegates remain undecided, and about 60 more -- three in Pennsylvania -- will be selected at state party conventions and meetings throughout the spring.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08122/878198-85.stm