Despite Barack Obama‘s difficulties in April, he has continued to outpace Hillary Clinton in the race for superdelegates who will be crucial in deciding the Democratic nomination.
Obama gained five superdelegates on Thursday, including former Clinton backer and ex-Democratic National Committee Chairman Joe Andrew, who was appointed to head the DNC in 1999 by then-President Bill Clinton.
Andrew told reporters he abandoned Clinton because Obama is “literally inspiring and different from anyone I’ve ever dealt with in this process.”
Obama also won the endorsement of Texas superdelegate John Patrick and three superdelegates from Illinois.
Clinton picked up a quartet of superdelegates from New York as well as AFL-CIO President John Olsen, giving her a net gain of four after the loss of Andrew.
Obama has steadily chipped away at Clinton’s superdelegate lead, which has shrunk from 87 in February to about 19 today, though superdelegates have slowed their endorsements of Obama in recent days in the wake of controversial statements made by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Veteran Democratic campaign consultant Tad Devine said the Andrew endorsement is particularly significant for Obama because Andrew is a respected party official and party officials make up 120 of the remaining 218 uncommitted superdelegates.
“The fact that he was party chairman during the Clinton presidency is important, it’s another person who you would expect to be with Sen. Clinton who felt compelled not to be, and it is important he felt he needed to switch,” Devine said.
Andrew is also an Indiana superdelegate, and his support could not come at a more critical time as poll numbers show Obama trailing Clinton in the Hoosier State, which along with North Carolina holds a primary on Tuesday.
While Obama trails Clinton in superdelegates, he leads Clinton by more than 130 pledged delegates. Devine said Obama has nearly won the majority of pledged delegates, which he believes to be a critical benchmark in the race.
Obama is about 127 pledged delegates shy of the majority. Clinton needs 282 pledged delegates to reach that milestone.
“He will soon have a majority of the pledged delegates and that means he will have won most of the delegates you can win on the basis of voters in primaries and caucuses, and I think that is significant,” Devine said.
But Devine said Obama’s candidacy could be undermined by a big loss to Clinton in Indiana and a small win or a loss in North Carolina, where polls show he is ahead by about seven points.
The remaining superdelegates, Devine said, “are ready to go, they just need that last push over the top. If Obama wins in the upcoming days or weeks, that will be the push they are looking for. If he doesn’t win, he could run into a wall.”
