Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Paul Kirk formally pledged his superdelegate vote to Senator Barack Obama today, the second former party leader to back the Illinois senator in two days. Obama ``has and will continue to expand the electorate beyond the traditional Democratic Party base and bring young and new and independent voters to the Democratic banner in November,'' Mr. Kirk, a party superdelegate from Massachusetts, said in a statement released by Senator Obama's campaign. Kirk previously expressed support for Senator Obama, though he hadn't publicly pledged to cast his vote for him at the party's national convention when the nominee will be chosen.
Mr. Kirk and former party leader Joe Andrew, who switched his support from Senator Clinton to Senator Obama yesterday, are among the 795 superdelegates that will have decisive votes at the nominating convention. The endorsements come just days before the May 6 Democratic primaries in North Carolina and Indiana. While Senator Clinton still leads Obama in backing from superdelegates Senator Obama has been catching up since the March 4 round of primaries.
Senator Obama leads among pledged delegates, 1,488 to 1,334, according to an unofficial count by the Associated Press. In the Guam caucus, Senator Obama is winning, but the U. S. territory only has a total of 4 delegates. The candidates probably will split those.
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