(CNN) - Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina announced Wednesday that he is backing Hillary Clinton's presidential bid, CNN has confirmed.
Shuler, a former NFL quarterback, is a superdelegate. The first-term congressman represents the 11th district in the western part of the state
Shuler has said in the past that he would support whoever won his district in Tuesday's North Carolina primary. Clinton won the district by 13 points.
On Tuesday, as North Carolina voters weighed in at the polls, Barack Obama also gained one of the state’s superdelegates: Democratic National Committee member Jeanette Council announced her support for his White House run.
UPDATE: Wednesday afternoon, the Obama campaign confirmed Council's endorsement, and announced the support of two more superdelegates: North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Meek, and California Democratic National Committee member Inola Henry.
(CNN) – It was a split decision - with a substantial win for Sen. Barack Obama and a razor-thin victory for Sen. Hillary Clinton - in the North Carolina and Indiana Democratic primaries.
In the latest episode of CNN=Politics Daily, Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider breaks down exit polling data from Tuesday by age, race, and gender.
Suzanne Malveaux was with the Clinton camp on primary night, and has an inside look at the candidate’s next moves. Will Clinton fight to have the Florida and Michigan delegations seated? How will the New York senator raise the money she needs to continue her battle against Obama and his fundraising juggernaut? What arguments is she readying for her party’s superdelegates? Malveaux has all the answers – straight from sources inside the Clinton campaign.
Despite Clinton’s commitment to soldier on through the remaining contests, the math of the Democratic Party’s proportional pledged delegate allocation is working against her. Chief National Correspondent John King uses CNN’s “Magic Wall” to explain Clinton’s uphill battle to secure the delegates necessary to claim the nomination.
The next Democratic contest is in West Virginia, and CNN’s Jim Acosta is already on the ground there. Acosta takes a look at the demographics and issues in the state before Clinton and Obama face off there.
Finally, in a special post-primary version of his “What if?” series, CNN Special Correspondent Frank Sesno takes a look at what might happen at the Democratic convention if Democrats have not settled on a nominee before the party gathers in August.
Click here to subscribe to CNN=Politics Daily.
(CNN) – To some observers, it may seem as though Hillary Clinton has had a disappointing 24 hours. But on a conference call with reporters Wednesday, her senior campaign advisers insisted that her loss in North Carolina, razor-thin victory in Indiana, and the revelation she had lent her campaign another $6 million over the past month - for a total of more than $11 million since the primary season began all represented positive developments for her White House run.
Clinton strategist Geoff Garin said the nail-biting Indiana contest which CNN was not able to call for Clinton until after midnight "was an outcome about which we feel very, very good."
He added that North Carolina, where Clinton lost to Barack Obama by a double-digit margin - does "represent progress for us" and "strengthens the case that she will be the strongest nominee for the party in November."
Watch Mitt Romney's interview with John Roberts
(CNN)— Former presidential contender Mitt Romney increased his criticism of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Wednesday taking direct aim at Obama’s experience, telling CNN’s John Roberts that “the presidency of the United States is not an internship.”
“He can read a prompter very well and energize a crowd,” said Romney. “But he has not accomplished anything during his life in terms of legislation, or leading an enterprise, or making a business work, or a city work, or a state work. He really has very little experience.”
The former Massachusetts governor, who has been mentioned as a possible running mate for presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, said voters will ultimately choose a candidate who has “been tested and proven” - a central theme of McCain’s primary and general election campaigns.
ROCHESTER HILLS, Michigan (CNN) – What temper? John McCain parried away a question Wednesday about his supposedly hot-headed demeanor by talking up his long bipartisan record in the United States Senate.
“If I had some problem as such has been described, my friends, I would not have been able to work with Joe Lieberman and Russ Feingold and Ted Kennedy and all the other members on the other side of the aisle,” McCain said, responding to a Republican voter who described McCain’s temper as “something of concern.”
The voter read McCain a quote from Republican Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, who said in January that “the thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine.”
“He is erratic,” Cochran told the Boston Globe. “He is hotheaded. He loses his temper."
“I am familiar with the quote,” McCain cracked, as the questioner recounted Cochran’s comments.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Democrat Hillary Clinton has loaned her presidential race $6.4 million over the last month, bringing the total amount of money she has lent herself to $11.4 million.
And she is willing to lend herself more money, top adviser Howard Wolfson told reporters Wednesday, a day after Clinton eked out a narrow victory over Sen. Barack Obama in Indiana's Democratic primary but lost to him by a landslide in North Carolina.
The $11.4 million she has lent her campaign this year is about the same as the amount she earned from book sales and her Senate salary, Wolfson said.
On a conference call with reporters, Wolfson said the loan proves Clinton is committed to staying in the presidential race.
"The loans are a sign of her commitment to continuing the race, her commitment to continuing the process and her commitment to staying competitive with Senator Obama on television and other areas," he said.
"The campaign continues to raise a lot of money, but Senator Obama, to his credit, is also raising a lot of money."
Clinton loaned herself $5 million on April 11, $1 million on May 1 and $425,000 since then, the campaign said Wednesday. The senator from New York loaned her campaign $5 million in February.
Clinton began the month of April with close to $32 million in cash on hand, but only $9 million of that total could be spent during the primary season, according to the most recent campaign reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
The report also showed that Clinton owed more than $10 million, meaning she was in the red even before she heavily stepped up television advertising ahead of the Pennsylvania primary in late April.
The day after her convincing Pennsylvania win on April 22, the Clinton campaign said it raised $10 million on the Internet. The campaign has not said how much it has raised since her close win in Indiana and her North Carolina loss Tuesday.
(Updates with campaign comments)
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Sen. Hillary Clinton added a previously unscheduled campaign stop Wednesday in West Virginia, soldiering on after a split decision in Tuesday's voting in Indiana and North Carolina, her aides said.
The senator plans to appear at 11:45 a.m. at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, Clinton aides told reporters about 3 a.m. Wednesday.
Her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, had already been scheduled to speak at the university.
NEW YORK (CNN) - Barack Obama took a major step Tuesday toward securing the Democratic presidential nomination. Not only did he score a convincing victory in North Carolina; but by drawing to a virtual tie in Indiana he made an already difficult path for Hillary Clinton to the presidential nomination significantly more challenging.
But Clinton vowed to soldier on, telling supporters at a rally in Indiana "it's full-speed on to the White House."
Obama wakes up this morning with a larger lead in pledged delegates as well as the overall popular vote. For Clinton, time for a rebound may be slipping away.
(CNN) – How big of an impact did Rush Limbaugh’s ‘Operation Chaos’ have in Indiana? Did GOP voters really cross over to create havoc in the Democratic primary by voting for Hillary Clinton, as he’d asked his listeners to do?
Roughly one in ten of the state’s Democratic primary voters were Republican - and that group did vote for Hillary Clinton, 53 to 47 percent over Barack Obama. But hold on: registered Democrats, who made up two-thirds of Tuesday’s primary voters, gave roughly the same edge to Clinton, 53 to 45 percent. Only Independents - who made up about a quarter of the electorate - voted for Obama, 53 to 47 percent.
For whatever reason, self-identified conservative voters did overwhelmingly support Clinton – two out of three cast their votes for the New York senator.
Compiled by Jonathan Helman
CNN Washington Bureau
CNN: Clinton Narrowly Takes Indiana, CNN Projects
Sen. Hillary Clinton will narrowly win in Indiana, CNN projects, edging out Sen. Barack Obama by a 2-percent margin.
NY Times: For the Republicans, It’s McCain (and Others)
Amid the chatter about whether the Democrats would be able to unite around one of their candidates was an interesting nugget. Incomplete returns on Tuesday night showed that more than 20 percent of those who voted in the Republican primary in Indiana voted for someone other than Senator John McCain, the party’s presumptive nominee.
Washington Post: Clinton Aides Doubtful About Future
After failing to win the decisive sweep in North Carolina and Indiana that could have reshaped the Democratic race, disappointed aides to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton conceded it would be difficult for her to catch Sen. Barack Obama in either delegates or overall votes in the six remaining contests.
The Hill: Superdelegates Say, We Will Decide
Uncommitted Democratic superdelegates in Congress overwhelmingly say they won’t necessarily back the presidential candidate who wins the most primary delegates. Instead, electability will be very important in their decision.
From CNN Politics
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