WASHINGTON — Barack Obama erased Hillary Rodham Clinton’s once-imposing lead among superdelegates Saturday when he added more endorsements from the group of Democrats who will decide the party’s nomination for president.
Obama added superdelegates from Utah, Ohio and Arizona, as well as two from the Virgin Islands who had previously backed Clinton.
The additions enabled Obama to surpass Clinton’s total for the first time in the campaign. 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 name among the party faithful.
Those party insiders, however, have been 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 and a superdelegate who supports Clinton.
Superdelegates are the party and elected officials who will automatically attend the Democratic National Convention in August in Denver. They can support whomever they choose, regardless of what happens in the primaries. They are key because neither Obama nor Clinton can win the nomination without them.
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. He 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 May 20, when Kentucky and Oregon vote.
Obama argues that the superdelegates should support the candidate who wins the most pledged delegates. Clinton says superdelegates should exercise independent judgment.
In the overall race for the nomination, Obama has 1,864.5 delegates and Clinton has 1,697, according to the latest AP tally. Obama is just 160.5 delegates shy of the 2,025 needed to secure the Democratic nomination.
