One More D.C. Superdelegate Goes for Obama

D.C. Superdelegate Anita Bonds, who is also the chair of the D.C. Democratic Party, formally announced on Tuesday that she will vote for Sen. Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention in August. D.C. Wire reported on Bonds' decision first, and Bonds has since issued a formal statement on the matter. (CORRECTION: The City Paper's Mike DeBonis, aka Loose Lips, was actually the first to report on the Bonds story).

In my role as the DC Party Chairman, I will serve as an automatic or “Super” Delegate with discretion concerning which of our two able candidates to support at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. Until today, I have remained uncommitted in order to conduct with fairness and without bias our local Delegate Selection Process, which was completed yesterday with the election of our Delegation Chair, Mayor Adrian Fenty.

On February 12 a record number of District residents turned out to vote and delivered Barack Obama an overwhelming victory of 76% in the DC Primary. The enthusiasm around Obama’s candidacy and the growing grassroots movement that he has inspired is truly remarkable, heartfelt and undisputable. Across the country voters support change in the way our government is run. While I respect the continuation of the Presidential Primary process, admire Hillary Clinton and her efforts to work for change, it is Barack Obama who can bring the change -- to expand health care to families, to take on the special interests, to make a decisive difference in the lives of hardworking people, and to continue his strong support for passage in the US Senate of the DC voting rights bill giving the residents of the District of Columbia representation in Congress. My pledge for support of Barack Obama is joined with the leadership of our city, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Mayor Adrian Fenty and Council Chairman, Vincent Gray, to work tirelessly to elect Barack Obama the 44th President of the United States.

Bonds' decision only adds to the superdelegate march toward Obama of the last week: Obama took the lead in the race for superdelegates for the first time on Monday, and has since increased the gap to its current standing at 282 to Sen. Hillary Clinton's 271. Obama is also ahead in the overall delegate count, 1,885 delegates to 1,717 for Clinton, after the latest primary in West Virginia.

Bonds joins other automatic superdelegates, such as Shadow Senators Paul Strauss and Michael D. Brown, Mayor Fenty, and D.C. Council chair Vincent Gray in her support of Sen. Obama.

Image courtesy dc.gov