As more take sides, Clinton superdelegate lead over Obama cut in half

The Associated Press ,  Washington   |  Thu, 05/01/2008 9:39 PM  |  Headlines

A top Democratic official who backed Hillary Rodham Clinton has switched allegiance to Barack Obama, a blow to the former first lady who must build a big margin among superdelegates who are likely to cast the deciding votes in the fierce Democratic presidential nomination fight.

Obama has cut Clinton's advantage with crucial superdelegates by half in two months and now has reaped backing from Joe Andrew, the Democratic National Committee chairman from 1999 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton.

Although he has a solid lead in delegates, neither he nor Clinton can accumulate the 2,025 delegates needed to secure the nomination without the support of superdelegates - senior officials and lawmakers who are free to vote as they please.

Joe Andrew, in announcing his shift, called for other Democrats to join him behind Obama to "heal the rift in our party." He also said in a letter to superdelegates that he had become disillusioned with the primary system, noting that the prolonged nomination battle risked alienating Democratic voters going into the November election against Republican presumptive nominee John McCain.

Obama scored the coup as the two candidates fight for superdelegates and white working class votes ahead of next Tuesday's primaries in Indiana and North Carolina - two battleground states in which the first-term Illinois senator needs wins to offset Clinton's momentum-building victory in Pennsylvania last week.

Asked for a response to Andrew's decision, Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said, "We support that Democratic process and think that every American should be able to weigh in and support the candidate of his or her own choosing."

Andrew was holding a news conference Thursday in his hometown of Indianapolis, to urge Indiana voters to support Obama. As one of the last big states in the primary schedule, the state vote is perhaps the most important contest left.

Clinton, who stands virtually no chance of overcoming Obama in delegates chosen in state primaries and caucuses, must roll up a big lead among the nearly 800 superdelegates if she hopes to capture the place at the top of the Democratic ticket.

But Andrew's defection highlighted worries that party leaders have increasingly voiced over the past few weeks.

"I am convinced that the primary process has devolved to the point that it's now bad for the Democratic Party," Andrew said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Andrew said in his letter to the superdelegates that he is switching his support because "a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote to continue this process, and a vote to continue this process is a
vote that assists (Republican) John McCain."

"While I was hopeful that a long, contested primary season would invigorate our party, the polls show that the tone and temperature of the race is now hurting us," Andrew wrote. "John McCain,
without doing much of anything, is now competitive against both of our remaining candidates. We are doing his work for him and distracting Americans from the issues that really affect all of our lives."

Andrew's concerns were underscored by a new Associated Press-Ipsos poll in which many backers of both Clinton and Obama said they would support McCain if their candidate does not take the nomination.

The most recent Gallup national tracking poll among Democrats showed Clinton with a statistically insignificant 1-point lead over Obama, down from his 10-percentage point advantage going into last week's Pennsylvania primary, where Clinton won handily. (***)

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