Catching Up On The Presidential Race

Obama keeps marching steadily to the nomination with the help of the superdelegates.

Since our last update was just before the West Virginia "blowout", let's start with the fact that Hillary netted a +12 pledged delegate count from that contest (20 for Clinton, 8 for Obama).

Since then, here has been the superdelegate movement:

Supporting Senator Obama:

• Christine Schon Marques, chair of Democrats Abroad (counts as a half delegate)
• Awais Khaleel of Young Democrats of America
• Indiana Representative Pete Visclosky
• Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan
• Wisconsin Superdelegate Lena Taylor
• California Representative Henry Waxman
• California Representative Howard Berman
• Washington Representative Jim McDerrmont
• Communications Workers of America President Larry Cohen

Supporting Senator Clinton:

• Vicky Harwell, president of the Tennessee Federation of Democratic Women

Since the night of the Indiana / North Carolina primaries (9 days ago), this makes 35.5 gained superdelegates for Senator Obama, while Clinton has gained 1.5. Factoring in the +12 "blowout" in West Virginia, that makes a net increase of +24 for Obama in 9 days.

The totals so far:

PLEDGED: Obama 1599 to 1447
SUPERDELEGATES: Obama 291.5 to 276.5
TOTAL: Obama 1,890.5 to 1,723.5.

Tomorrow, an analysis of how West Virginia wasn't such a big deal after all.