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May 23, 2008
Posted: 11:49 AM ET
From CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart
Sen. Obama campaigned in Florida Thursday.
(CNN) – Sen. Barack Obama pocketed two more of his party’s superdelegates Friday. California congressmen Jim Costa and Dennis Cardoza are endorsing the Illinois senator, according to a statement released by his campaign. “While I continue to greatly respect and admire Senator Clinton and feel she has made history with her campaign, I believe that Senator Obama will inevitably be our party’s nominee for President,” Cardoza, who had previously supported Sen. Hillary Clinton, said in the statement. Cardoza also waded into the controversy over seating the Florida and Michigan delegations at the Democratic convention. “I will not support changing the rules in the fourth quarter of this contest through some convoluted DNC rules committee process. Yet, we must find a resolution” to the situation with Florida and Michigan, Cardoza said. “I believe we need to avoid this potentially divisive situation by uniting behind one nominee and bringing the party together immediately,” he added. Costa said electability had helped drive his decision. “In my opinion, it is clear that Senator Obama will be the strongest presidential nominee for the Democratic Party,” Costa said in the statement released by the campaign. Obama leads the delegate race with a total of 1,967 total delegates including 309 superdelegates, according to CNN’s latest tally. Clinton has 1,779 total delegates, including 279 superdelegates. The number of delegates necessary to claim the Democratic nomination is currently 2,026 but that number may change once the Democratic National Committee decides how to resolve the situation regarding the Florida and Michigan delegations. The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee is set to meet on May 31 and hear appeals from both states that were stripped of all their delegates to the convention because they held their primaries in violation of party rules. Filed under: Barack Obama Democratic National Convention Hillary Clinton superdelegates
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