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7 Oregon superdelegates still mum on presidential choices

05:24 PM PDT on Wednesday, May 21, 2008

By JULIA SILVERMAN, Associated Press Writer

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The rest of Oregon's voters have had their say.

Now it's time for the seven superdelegates still uncommitted to say whether they are backing Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama for president.

But so far, the super seven are staying tight-lipped, although several hinted that that could change by Friday.

Superdelegates are party and elected officials who automatically attend the Democrats' national convention and can support whomever they choose, regardless of what happens in the primaries.

Oregon has 52 pledged or "automatic" delegates to the Denver convention. Their votes are determined by the results of Tuesday vote.

Based on Obama's strong showing, he'll get the majority -- 29 to 31. The rest will go to Clinton, party officials say.

The state also has twelve superdelegates. Five have made a decision. Gov. Ted Kulongoski and U.S. Rep. Darlene Hooley have sided with Clinton. U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer, David Wu and Peter DeFazio have endorsed Obama.

That leaves five party officials and two elected officials.

One of the officials, Sen. Ron Wyden, has said he's stayed neutral in hopes of being able to work with the eventual winner on his health care proposal.

The other, Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, said Wednesday that he'll wait until early June, after the Montana and South Dakota primaries, although he called Obama's showing in Oregon impressive.

"As secretary of state, I love that Oregon got its attention in the sun with the presidential primary," Bradbury said. "And I really think that Montana and South Dakota deserve the same attention."

Meredith Wood Smith, chair of the state party, said she and her fellow superdelegates still have some thinking to do.

"The holdup is absorbing what the results are, and where we are nationally in the race," she said. "We are thinking about who do we feel would make the best president, who would be best for the Democratic Party."

Obama is fewer than 70 delegates from the 2,026 needed to secure the nomination.

According to the latest tally by The Associated Press, he had a total of 1,962 delegates, including superdelegate endorsements, while Clinton had 1,779.

Superdelegate Jenny Greenleaf said she'd been getting calls from luminaries associated with both campaigns.

"I am really looking forward to crawling back under my rock," she said. "Once this is over nobody will pay any attention to me again."

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