The first/only superdelegate announcement of the day: Obama gets Rep. Brad Miller (left) of North Carolina:
“I look forward to serving on a unified Democratic ticket with Senator Obama. He has shown great vision, strength and resilience during a very tough campaign against a worthy opponent.”
But it hasn't exactly been a flood since Tuesday, has it? Based on the evidence so far, the media was a little more impressed by Obama's performance on Tuesday than the superdelegates were.
There seem to be several things going on. Whatever the press says, Clinton is not completely dead yet. A lot of the uncommitted probably don't see advantage in alienating half the party until/unless they have to. Obama has not exactly erased questions about the strength of his coalition and his electability. Most of the easy sells among supers are gone. And like the Obama campaign itself, superdelegates probably want to give a cornered Hillary space.
The campaign has been emphasizing May 20 -- the date of the Kentucky/Oregon primary, and the date it expects to clinch a majority of the pledged (i.e. elected) delegates. Today, Obama himself brought it up on NBC: “That will be an important day. If at that point we have the majority of pledged delegates, which is possible, then I think we can make a pretty strong claim that we’ve got the most runs and it’s the ninth inning and we’ve won.”
Putting two and two together: It sounds like a lot of superdelegates are saying they want a neutral benchmark -- victory among the pledged delegates -- before they jump. That way, they can say they're honoring the process and the voters, not picking Obama over Clinton.
Until then, it's looking like it will be a trickle. The problem: Obama is going to have to endure a drubbing in West Virginia and another round of commentary about his unpopularity with working-class white voters before he reaches critical mass, never a healthy thing for the presumptive nominee.
So far, we haven't even seen West Virginia on his schedule -- he's in Washington today, then Oregon Friday and Saturday.
As a political tactic, it's probably smart to downgrade a race you're going to lose, but amid the ongoing bitter/elitist narrative it may not be smart to evade the kind of voters you need to win over. Why not dive into the hollers and do a fight-for-every-vote thing?