Obama has most superdelegate backers for first time

Published on Saturday 10 May 2008 23:58

Barack Obama has for the first time overtaken Hillary Clinton in the number of superdelegates backing him for the Democratic nomination for the White House.

Obama received the support of superdelegates from Utah, Ohio and the Virgin Islands, enabling him to surpass Clinton's total. He had picked up nine superdelegate endorsements on Friday.

Obama has endorsements from 275, according to the latest tally. Clinton has 271.5.

The milestone is important because Clinton would need to win over the superdelegates by a wide margin in order to claim the nomination. They are a group that Clinton dominated before the Iowa primary in early January, when she was able to cash in on the popularity of the Clinton brand among the party faithful. Those party insiders, however, have been steadily streaming to Obama since he started posting wins in early voting states. Once it became clear that he was pulling ahead of Clinton in the race to be the nominee, the Clinton camp tried to win over superdelegates.

"It is perceived that he is the leader," said Don Fowler, a superdelegate from South Carolina who supports Clinton. "The trickle is going to become an avalanche."

Superdelegates are party and elected officials who will attend the Democratic national convention this August in Denver.