Day: May 8, 2008

Barack Obama’s march toward the Democratic presidential nomination picked up support from four more superdelegates Wednesday, pushing him ever closer to victory over Hillary Rodham Clinton — even as their primary marathon staggered on.

She added two superdelegates herself in what has become the last big contest as their race winds toward a finish.

There are just 217 delegates to be chosen in the final six primaries, and neither candidate can win enough of them to claim final victory. Meanwhile, 265 additional delegates — the party elders and other “superdelegates” — have yet to be claimed, and their support will be the deciding factor.

On television Tuesday, a presidential candidate I know well was blasting the Senate’s “shabby treatment” of judicial nominees and basking in virtue for having voted to confirm presidential picks despite differences with their philosophies.