The March continues...more superdelegate endorsements and Clinton's being worn down

I missed yesterday and there was what seems to be the normal pace of developments and news. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) gave a surprise endorsement of Obama conceivably providing a boost to the vaunted rural/urban white male blue collar vote in the 6th largest state. Also Senator Pat Leahy (D-VT) and one of the big kahoona's of the Democratic political power elite started the drum beat to have Senator Clinton fold up her presidential bid. My thinking is this drum beat will continue as the Pennsylvania primary comes closer as a warning to the Clinton's that if they continue in their negative and bully tactics more and more power elites will step away from her.

The net effect is that Obama garnished not one (Casey) but two superdelegate commitments as also Politico.com listed Steve Alari (CA-DNC) stating that he had announced his support for Obama back on January 11th. This means that Obama has 211 hard count superdelegates and an additional (2) with the apparent commitments of Mike Panetta (DC-DNC) because of process confusion which appears will be cleared up before the convention and Paul J. Kirk Jr., (MA-DNC) but other news reports say he is uncommitted. This would mean Obama has 213 endorsements to Clinton's 246 and within 33. With the leading statement of Sen. Maria Cartwell (D-WA) who said she would support the idea of whomever had the most pledged delegates she would vote for even though she is on record supporting Clinton one could say Clinton is at 245.

There is another interesting report that has surfaced demonstrating Obama's political savvy in that his PAC has contributed to more superdelegates than the Clinton PAC. In an article from the McClatchy Newspapers:

McCaskill and Matsui are among the nearly 800 superdelegates who have a say in who heads the Democratic ticket this fall.

While both women say the PAC contributions did not influence their choice for president, a study by the Center for Responsive Politics concludes that campaign contributions have become a fairly reliable predictor of whose side a superdelegate will take.

And if that's the case, it's good news for Obama. Since 2005, his PAC has donated $710,900 to superdelegates, more than three times as much as Clinton's PAC has. Her PAC distributed $236,100 to superdelegates during the three-year period.

The study found that the presidential candidate who gave more money to the superdelegates received their endorsements 82% of the time. That's based on a review of elected officials who are serving as superdelegates and who had endorsed a candidate as of Feb. 25.