Day Forty-four, May 9

Here's another reason to support Senator Obama's bid for the presidency: the man can do math. And on a day like today, that sort of thing comes in handy. The reason's as important as learning your multiplication tables, but much quicker to figure out: today he picked up nine superdelegates. In just a few short hours this afternoon, superdelegates all over the United States were jumping into the ring for Obama, devouring Senator Clinton's narrow lead in no time. Nine supers in a single day is important record in recent months of the Democratic race, and one that is only helping Obama gain steam in the days following what may have been the table-turning primaries in Indiana and North Carolina. The most important part of the equation is that these superdelegates bring Obama's count up to 271, a mere one-half of a superdelegate of Hillary's total*. Although Senator Clinton also picked up one superdelegate's endorsement today, Obama is currently leading the overall delegate count 1,859.5 delegates, to 1,697. That math could be what it takes to make Obama his party's official candidate before the DNC comes to Denver three months from now.

To put this gain into better perspective, on the day before Super Tuesday, Senator Clinton was leading the superdelegate count 169-63. What a difference a few months can make!

As reported in our own Denver Post today (via the Associated Press), superdelegates from the country have come out to stand behind Obama's run for the Oval Office. A few of them have even defected from the Hillary camp (yet again) to board the Hope train right before it gains full steam this summer. New Jersey representative Donald Payne originally came out for Senator Clinton's campaign on January 1st, but was one of the nine superdelegates to lend his support to Obama today. Payne summed up his switch to Obama, saying, "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." He is the tenth superdelegate to defect to Obama's campaign this year; so far, Obama has not lost any of his supporters to Senator Clinton. Obama also picked up an endorsement from The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), a Washington D.C.-based workers' union. Said John Gage, president of the AFGE, "Our people, I think, recognize the enthusiasm and vitality behind Senator Obama's campaign." It seemed to be an easy choice for the union, according to Gage, who went on to say "I think it's time we start really focusing in on McCain, who just has a terrible record when it comes to federal employees." Amen, brother. And we might just take a few more of those superdelegates with us!

* Can someone please explain to me why delegates are being split between the two candidates, accounting for a .5 lead? I missed this when it happened last month.