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Washington: Barack Obama erased Hillary Rodham Clinton’s once-imposing superdelegate lead on Saturday after scooping up more endorsements from the group of Democrats who will decide the party’s nomination for president.
Obama added superdelegates from Utah and Ohio, as well as two from the Virgin Islands who had previously backed Clinton.
It gave Obama a superdelegate lead for the first time in the campaign.
It leaves Clinton needing to win over the remaining undeclared superdelegates by a wide margin to claim the nomination.
Obama now has endorsements from 275 superdelegates to Clinton’s 271.5, according to the latest Associated Press tally.
There are 217 pledged delegates at stake in the remaining six primaries and Obama is on track to secure a majority of the pledged delegates on May 20, when Kentucky and Oregon vote.
In the overall race, Obama has 1,863.5 delegates and Clinton has 1,697, according to the latest AP tally. Obama is just 161.5 delegates shy of the 2,025 needed to secure the nomination.
Kevin Rodriquez of the Virgin Islands said in a statement that he switched from Clinton to Obama.
“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.
In all, Obama added four superdelegates late Friday and Saturday. Clinton added one in Massachusetts, but lost the two in the Virgin Islands.
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