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Obama wins more superdelegates
14/05/2008 18:17 - (SA)
Washington - Barack Obama renewed his momentum with more Democratic leaders drifting to the White House front-runner's camp on Wednesday despite his pummeling by Hillary Clinton in the West Virginia primary.
"You will never quit, and I won't either," Clinton told cheering supporters at her victory rally late on Tuesday in the poor, mountainous state.
However, far more significant than West Virginia's 28 delegates is the bloc of nearly 800 Democratic superdelegates who could have the casting vote in the bruising nominating epic.
More superdelegates for Obama
The Obama campaign announced early on Wednesday the support of two more superdelegates - an Indiana congressman and the chairperson of Democrats Abroad.
Obama now had the support of 286 superdelegates, against 272 for Clinton, according to the latest tally by the independent website RealClearPolitics.
Closer to the winning line
In total, he has 1 882 delegates to her 1 714, putting him considerably closer to the winning line of 2 025.
Obama was already looking past the Democratic primary race, which ends on June 3, with campaign stops in Michigan. Along with Florida's, the state's delegates have been stripped by Democratic leaders in a scheduling row.
Tuesday's special election in Mississippi, won by Democratic candidate Travis Childers, was the third recent loss of a "safe" seat for Republicans, suggesting the party could be heading for trouble in November's congressional elections.
'Change 3, Status Quo 0'
"The scoreboard now reads 'Change 3, Status Quo 0'," House of Representatives Democratic caucus chairperson Rahm Emanuel said.
Mississippi Republicans had run attack ads portraying Obama as an extreme liberal, in an unsuccessful bid to taint Childers in the conservative state.
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