Superdelegate switches; endorses Sen. Obama

WASHINGTON -- The head of the Democratic Party during part of Bill Clinton's administration switched allegiances Thursday and endorsed Barack Obama.

Former Democratic National Committee chairman Joe Andrew, an Indiana native who also was state party chairman there, announced his switch just a few days before the state's crucial Tuesday primary.

In an interview with The Indianapolis Star, Andrew — one of the crucial "superdelegates" both campaigns are courting — also said his wife Ann, who had been a full-time volunteer for Clinton, also is switching her support to Obama. The Star is owned by Gannett, parent company of USA TODAY.

Andrew said the primary fight between Clinton and Obama has become too divisive.

"It's bad and it's time to end it now," Andrew said. "End it in Indiana on Tuesday."

Andrew said his decision — which puts him at odds with Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana, who is a national co-chairman of Clinton's campaign — was a "long time coming." But he said the final thing that tipped him to backing Obama was the gasoline tax holiday that Clinton, as well as Sen. John McCain, have proposed. He called it "pandering" and said it represented the old-style politics that he said he'd been a practitioner of himself.

He said he had not called the Clintons to tell them of his decision, in part because it would have prompted that campaign to let out "their attack dogs" even sooner.

Andrew said that polls are showing that Democrats are becoming more divided, with supporters of each candidate saying they cannot support the other, and that Republican Sen. John McCain is benefiting as a result.

Asked for a response to Andrew's decision, Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said, "We support that Democratic process and think that every American should be able to weigh in and support the candidate of his or her own choosing."

Andrew's decision puts Obama closer to closing Clinton's superdelegate lead, according to estimates by the Associated Press. Clinton had a big advantage among superdelegates, many of whom like Andrews have ties to the Clintons and backed her candidacy early on. But the AP estimates most of the superdelegates taking sides recently have gone for Obama, who has won more state contests.

Obama now trails her by just 16 superdelegates, 247-263, the AP estimates. This week, he picked up 11 superdelegates, including three add-on delegates named by the Illinois Democratic Party, while she netted three.

Superdelegates are nearly 800 elected leaders and Democratic Party officials who aren't bound by the outcome of state contests and can cast their ballot for any candidate at the national convention. They are especially valuable in this race since neither Clinton nor Obama can win enough pledged delegates to secure the nomination through state-by-state elections.

Obama now leads in the delegate count overall 1735.5 to 1597.5 for Clinton, according to AP estimates. A candidate needs 2,025 delegates to win the nomination.

It's the second endorsement for Obama this week that could be influential in Indiana. Rep. Baron Hill, who represents a crucial swing district in the state, endorsed Obama on Wednesday. Clinton has the backing of Bayh, who has a vast organization in the state and has been campaigning aggressively with the former first lady.

Also Thursday, Obama and his wife said "voters are tired" of hearing about the remarks of their former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

"We hear time and time again — voters are tired of this," Michelle Obama said in an interview on NBC's Today Show. "They don't want to hear about this division. They want to know what are we going to do to move beyond these issues."

Barack Obama said he initially tried to give Wright the benefit of the doubt when films clips first surfaced on the Internet of fiery sermons the pastor gave at their Chicago church — a series of haranguing declarations from the pulpit in which he damned the United States for racial oppression and accusing the government of deliberately spreading the HIV virus to harm black people.

"When the first snippets came out (on Wright's controversial sermons at his Chicago church), I thought it was important to give him the benefit of the doubt because if I had wanted to be politically expedient I would have distanced myself and denounced him right away, right?" said Obama. "That would have been the easy thing to do."

But earlier this week, Obama said he could no longer support Wright, decrying his longtime minister's latest remarks as "a bunch of rants that aren't grounded in the truth."

Campaigning in North Carolina, Obama denounced Wright's combative appearance Monday at the National Press Club as "a show of disrespect to me" and "an insult to what we've been trying to do in this campaign."

Wright had been Obama's pastor for more than 20 years. Wright brought Obama to Christianity, inspired the title of his book The Audacity of Hope, officiated at his wedding and baptized his daughters.

Contributing: Mary Beth Schneider of The Indianapolis Star; Kathy Kiely; David Jackson; Associated Press