Barack Obama's big win Tuesday night in North Carolina, wiping out Hillary Clinton's gain in the popular vote totals from her Pennsylvania victory, is increasing the pressure on some of Clinton's superdelegates to rethink their support.
One Virginia superdelegate caved Wednesday.
State Del. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, an early Clinton backer, said she will now support Obama.
McClellan, who introduced Clinton at the Virginia Democratic party's Jefferson-Jackson dinner in February, had been dropping hints for months that she might decide to switch. Obama won Virginia's Democratic primary on Feb. 12 by a wide margin.
But several of Virginia's 16 superdelegates-- elected officials and party leaders-- remain uncommitted.
They include Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., and C. Richard Cranwell, the state party chairman.
Webb, in a brief interview Wednesday, refused to budge from his position of neutrality.
``I think that will take care of itself," he said, suggesting the nomination will be decided before Democrats hold their national convention in Denver in late August.
Hoping to convince the superdelegates to climb onboard now, the Obama campaign sent a memo to them Wednesday suggesting the nomination is all but locked up.
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said his candidate now needs only 172 delegates to clinch the nomination, while Clinton needs 326.
Clinton, he said, would need to win 68 percent of all remaining delegates to beat Obama.
Of the roughly 800 superdelegates nationwide, 260 remain undeclared, Plouffe wrote.
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