The Sable Verity

Here’s what some said in response: “Muriel Offerman, a North Carolina superdelegate who has not disclosed her choice, said, ‘That should not have been said. I think it drives a wedge, a racial wedge, and that’s not what the Democratic Party’s about.’ Asked about Clinton’s comments, Massachusetts superdelegate Debra Kozikowsi said, ‘That’s distressing. I’m not even sure how to respond to that.’”

The New York Daily News: “Hillary Clinton misplays race card while Barack Obama is treated like rock star.” “[S]ome of her supporters — including Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Manhattan) — slammed the comments. ‘I can’t believe Sen. Clinton would say anything that dumb,’ Rangel told The News as he headed to the House floor, where earlier he had embraced Obama. The bitter words came as both candidates looked ahead to West Virginia’s primary Tuesday and pressed their talking points — Clinton insisting she was in the race to win, while Obama argued he could have the nomination wrapped up when Oregon and Kentucky vote on May 20.”

Peggy Noonan also believes Clinton played the race card in her USA Today interview. “If John McCain said, ‘I got the white vote, baby!’ his candidacy would be over. And rising in highest indignation against him would be the old Democratic Party. To play the race card as Mrs. Clinton has, to highlight and encourage a sense that we are crudely divided as a nation, to make your argument a brute and cynical ‘the black guy can’t win but the white girl can’ is — well, so vulgar, so cynical, so cold, that once again a Clinton is making us turn off the television in case the children walk by.”

“‘She has unleashed the gates of hell,’ a longtime party leader told me. ‘She’s saying, “He’s not one of us.”’ 

John Edwards said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that he disagrees with Clinton’s “white Americans” comment and that she’s got to ask herself, “Where are the lines?” He added, “I think it’s fine for Hillary to keep making the case for her. But when that shifts to everything that is wrong with him, then we’re doing damage instead of being helpful.”

And did Edwards tip his hand on who he’s backing? He called Obama the “likely nominee.” And we’ll chalk this one up to his Southern accent, but he said he “voted for ‘em on Tuesday.” (Sounded an awful lot like “him.”)

Also… “I think Barack Obama’s doing pretty well without my help.” Edwards also said, “He is clearly the likely nominee at this point.”

Edwards said he may choose to publicly declare for one of the candidates, but he’s keeping it to himself “just for now.” He added, though, that he doesn’t think his endorsement matters except to “people like you all” [the media]. He wouldn’t answer if he and his wife, Elizabeth, voted for different people.

…(read more)

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From MSNBC:

“Rep. Donald Payne (D-10th Dist.), a New Jersey superdelegate who had been supporting Hillary Clinton for president, has switched his allegiance to Barack Obama. ‘After careful consideration, I have reached the conclusion that Barack Obama can best bring about the change that our country so desperately wants and needs,” Payne told The Star-Ledger for today’s editions. It was ‘one of the most difficult decisions I have made,’ Payne said. ‘I’ve really been mulling it over for quite a while.”

Also, Obama’s trip to Oregon got off to a good start before he even arrived. Congressman Peter DeFazio, a superdelegate, says he will support the Illinois senator. That moves Obama one small step closer to presidential nomination.

Pennsylvania Rep. Chris Carney sided with Clinton, who won his very conservative district.

The Wall Street Journal says some supers haven’t come out for Obama because of a fear of “backlash at home.” The paper writes, “Many of the politicians sitting on the fence are from conservative states or mostly white, rural districts, where Sen. Obama has had the least success. Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Democrat, is expected to face a tough re-election fight in the fall and hasn’t endorsed a presidential candidate. Despite her neutrality, the Republican Party has been airing an advertisement on YouTube that poses the question of whether she will endorse Sen. Obama. The ad transposes her picture with his picture and overlays it with a muddy recording of a speech in which he described small-town and working-class voters as ‘bitter.’” 

The Washington Post reports, “[B]ehind the scenes, his campaign worked with a light touch to win over uncommitted superdelegates and allies of Clinton, mindful of not appearing  overconfident and of the fact that they would need the backing of the candidate, her husband and their supporters in the fall.”

“With numerous prominent Democrats believed to be waiting in the wings to endorse his candidacy, Obama appears poised to win the pledged delegates and superdelegates he will need to claim the Democratic nomination as early as May 20, when Kentucky and Oregon vote. But although he appeared to lock down his lead on Tuesday with a strong win in North Carolina and a narrow loss in Indiana, he won only two new superdelegate endorsements yesterday, from Reps. Rick Larsen (Wash.) and Brad Miller (N.C.). Many other unaligned lawmakers said they are likely to remain on the sidelines for the time being, in deference to Clinton.”

More: “Obama advisers said a number of Democratic lawmakers are ready to sign on but want to speak with Clinton before making the leap. ‘The writing is on the wall. They think he’s the nominee, so there’s no reason to rush,’ said one prominent uncommitted Democrat, referring to other lawmakers in the same situation. ‘Then you don’t have to offend anybody. The voters will issue their verdict soon enough.’”

“Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), a former presidential candidate, said he will remain neutral. ‘I’m hopeful that there’s some accommodation pretty soon,’ he said carefully. ‘The sooner the better.’ Sen. Ken Salazar (Colo.) said he will hang back, as well. ‘Let it play out,’ he said. Sen. Mary Landrieu (La.) said she will continue to ‘contemplate things’ over the next few weeks.”

“Clinton supporters also urged restraint. ‘It’s three more weeks, okay?’ said Sen. Maria Cantwell (Wash.). ‘We want to have a very united party in November, and I take Senator Obama at his word when he says he doesn’t want to do anything to tell her to get out of the race.’”

The New York Times reports Obama met privately with Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the DNC yesterday. “Behind the scenes, there were new discussions between Mr. Obama and the party leadership. Senior Democratic officials said he met with Speaker Nancy Pelosi when their paths crossed at Democratic Party headquarters. They had spoken by telephone earlier in the week. Ms. Pelosi and Mrs. Clinton have had no known recent talks.”

“On Thursday, however, Obama argued that he could lock up the race sooner – by May 20 when Kentucky and Oregon vote. ‘If, at that point, we have the majority of pledged delegates,’ he said, ‘we can make a pretty strong claim that … we’ve won. He spoke on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.’”

Could a bunch of Supers come out to put Obama over the top on May 20 as well?

Politico’s Smith and Parnes report that Clinton tried to get some undeclared supers to commit to her privately without having to risk a public break with Obama. “A Clinton staffer acknowledged Thursday that the campaign was in the process of  ‘counting up’ superdelegates because, ‘at the end of the day, we have to know where our numbers are.’ ‘We do have some private supporters,’ the staffer said. “[But] for their own political purposes, they can’t be on record.’”

“The staffer conceded that lawmakers could, in theory, ‘privately back’ Clinton then ultimately support Obama but said: ‘We need to track where we are, and there’s no other way.’”