From the Associated Press:
[On Saturday] Obama added superdelegates from Utah, Ohio and Arizona, as well as two from the Virgin Islands who had previously backed Clinton ... He had picked up nine endorsements Friday. The milestone is important because Clinton would need to win over the superdelegates by a wide margin to claim the nomination. They are a group that Clinton owned before the first caucus, 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. "I always felt that if anybody establishes himself as the clear leader, the superdelegates would fall in line," said Don Fowler, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee. "It is perceived that he is the leader," said Fowler, a superdelegate from South Carolina who supports Clinton. "The trickle is going to become an avalanche." Superdelegates are the party and elected officials who will automatically attend the Democratic national convention this August in Denver. They can support whomever they choose, regardless of what happens in the primaries. ... Many of the superdelegates who endorsed Obama in the past week said it is time for the party to unite behind him. Obama is coming off a big win in North Carolina's Democratic primary Tuesday. Clinton narrowly won Indiana's primary the same day, but Obama did better than many expected. Obama has added 21 superdelegates since and Clinton has had a net increase of two. Kevin Rodriquez of the Virgin Islands said in a statement that he switched from Clinton to Obama because he thinks Obama has brought energy and excitement to the party. "He has shown he can connect with Democrats, Republicans and independents across this country, whether we live on the mainland or an island," Rodriquez said. ... Obama has a 163-delegate lead among the pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses. That means Clinton would have to generate an identical lead among superdelegates to catch him. There are 217 pledged delegates at stake in the remaining six primaries. Obama is on track to secure a majority of the pledged delegates on May 20, when Kentucky and Oregon vote.
From the Washington Post:
Sen. Barack Obama probably did not need to make a surprise appearance Friday at the Twilight Meet at the University of Oregon. ... But such is this moment for Obama that it seemed natural to indulge in a little affirmation. As his bus pulled up, he strode onto the handsome old track just as the women's 5K was ending. A murmur went through the crowd, the public-address announcer confirmed his arrival, and the action came to a halt as 5,000 track fans rose as one to cheer the senator from Illinois who appears suddenly on the verge of claiming his party's presidential nomination. The javelin hurlers dropped their equipment, and the 400-meter hurdlers paused in their warm-ups as a waving Obama made his way around one of the country's most famous tracks bathed in late-afternoon sunlight -- a victory lap. "You guys are just so fast. I congratulate you," Obama said as he reached the finish line, where the 5K runners still waited -- as if the applause was for anyone but him. ... He is officially on guard against seeming overconfident, saying at every turn that he is still running hard against a tough primary opponent. His campaign is well aware that he faces the prospect of a thumping in the upcoming primaries in West Virginia and Kentucky. Yet here, in a state where he is strongly favored to win, his stump speeches seem less like bids for votes than a chance for fans to see their hero and hear his pitch one last time before he moves on to the next stage. At an outdoor rally on the university campus after his visit to the track, Obama declared that the state's May 20 vote could be the one that gives him a clear majority of pledged delegates. And he adopted a retrospective tone, taking stock of the 15-month campaign that has brought him close to defeating a heavily favored former first lady backed by a powerful political machine. He expressed regret for having allowed his campaign to indulge in some of the tit-for-tats that he decries. "There've been times where you get whacked so many times that after a time, you feel you have to whack back. You've got to go negative. You don't want to look like a wimp," he said. "The times . . . I'm most proud of is when we resisted the impulse, and the times that I'm least proud of is when we succumbed to that impulse." ... But such challenges seem distant for Obama and the crowds turning out to see him. In Eugene, Dennis and Anastasia Sandow, Democrats in their 50s, lined up three hours early for a spot squeezed against a police barrier, with poor sightlines. But they had to be there, they said -- not to decide whom to vote for next week, but to witness history.
From the Boston Globe:
Senator Barack Obama's Massachusetts supporters began focusing their efforts on the November election yesterday, fanning out to busy areas in Boston to register voters, even as the candidate's Democratic primary campaign against Senator Hillary Clinton continued. Governor Deval Patrick rallied about 100 volunteers at Roxbury's Reggie Lewis Center yesterday. The volunteers scooped up voter registration slips and chose MBTA stations, parks, and other spots to find unregistered voters. Patrick, wearing blue jeans, stood outside the Back Bay T Station and registered potential voters, saying he wouldn't even object if some were Republicans. "I think it's in the spirit of the campaign that if someone says, 'I want to register, but I'm going to register as a Republican,' you sign them up," he said. The registration drive in Massachusetts, where Clinton handily won the February primary, was one of 100 similar events across the country yesterday, the campaign said. Patrick, a staunch Obama ally, said the effort is not a statement by the Obama campaign that the primary is over, asserting that Obama is not "disrespectful enough or foolish enough" to claim victory while Clinton continues to fight for the nomination. "One of the beauties of this campaign this whole primary season has been the range of people who have gotten involved the first time," Patrick said. "That's not just good for the Obama campaign. That's good for democracy." ... One volunteer said he was not worried about the hard-fought primary campaign hurting the nominee's chances in the fall against the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain. "There's a lot of gloom and doom about the drawn-out primary," said Oliver Bassett, 36, of Jamaica Plain. "But people are getting engaged."
From KOTA TV:
He hasn't campaigned in South Dakota, yet, but presidential hopeful Barack Obama's supporters are keeping him on the forefront in KOTA Territory. Obama volunteers are busy going door-to-door, or calling registered Democrats to make sure they go out and vote on June third. It's part of a national 'vote for change", voter registration drive. Volunteers in Rapid City plan to encourage voters to get involved in the historic race. "I think a lot of Democrats, necessarily don't think they need to be involved as much because their voice doesn't get heard on the national level... So I think people are really excited because they're getting to be a part of something they've never really been a part of." says volunteer Jason Eckroate.
From Montana's News Station:
The Barack Obama campaign announced Friday that it will open a campaign headquarters in Butte, bringing the total number of offices across the state to eight. The campaign office, located at 128 West Granite Street, will serve as a base for outreach in southwestern Montana. ... "As Montana's critical June 3rd primary gets closer, we are excited to open a headquarters for those supporters and to continue outreach into Butte America and the surrounding counties." Obama picked up the backing of nine superdelegates, and is closing in on the lead for Democratic National Convention superdelegates. The developments leave Hillary Clinton with 271.5 superdelegates, to 271 for Obama.
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