A co-chair of Hillary Clinton's National Hispanic Leadership Council has defected and pledged his support to Barack Obama, Clinton's rival for the Democratic presidential nomination. He was joined by another California superdelegate.
The defections came as a new poll showed that Obama would handily defeat John McCain in California in November — and do so by a larger margin than Clinton would.
U.S. Rep. Dennis Cardoza, whom Clinton named to his Hispanic leadership post in December, shortly after Cardoza announced he would support her for the nomination, announced he was switching sides on Friday. "I believe that Senator Obama will inevitably be our party's nominee for president," Cardoza, a Democrat from Merced, in the San Joaquin Valley, said.
He was joined by another California superdelegate, U.S. Rep. Jim Costa, a Democrat from Fresno.
Cardoza's endorsement of Clinton occurred when she appeared to be the odds-on favorite to win the nomination, with more than twice as many superdelegate supporters as Obama. That was before Obama won the Iowa caucuses and began his drive toward front-runner status.
In more recent weeks, as Clinton's lead evaporated, Cardoza and his fellow superdelegates have been getting more pressure from Obama's camp to join the winning team.
Two weeks ago, for instance, Obama ventured to a Capitol Hill townhouse to meet with members of the Blue Dog coalition, a group of moderate-to-conservative House Democrats who generally represent swing congressional districts. Cardoza and Costa are both Blue Dogs, and by all accounts Obama made a hit.
"I continue to greatly respect and admire Senator Clinton and feel she has made history with her campaign," Cardoza said. But "we need to avoid
potentially divisive situation by uniting behind one nominee and bringing the party together immediately."
Cardoza characterized Obama as "thoughtful, knowledgeable and inspirational."
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