By Jonathan Allen, CQ StaffBarack Obama will pick up an important industrial state endorsement from veteran Rep. Nick J. Rahall II before the May 13 West Virginia primary.
Rahall told CQ Politics Thursday that he privately made his commitment to Obama about 10 days ago and will officially endorse the delegate leader in the Democratic presidential primary sometime before voters in his state go to the polls.
“The new voters he has brought to the process this year and the new direction, in my opinion, add up to what our country needs,” Rahall said.
Obama has struggled to win the support of the type of working-class white voters who populate much of Rahall’s 3rd district in the southern portion of the state. In the Ohio primary on Tuesday, many of them backed Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Rahall acknowledged that his pick may be out of step with the leanings of the Democratic voters in his district.“I recognize this may not be a popular decision in my district,” he said. The district has the third‑lowest median income in the country.
As a member of the House, Rahall is one of the 795 “superdelegates” who are not forced to pledge their support to any candidate at the Democratic convention. West Virginia has 28 pledged delegates and 11 unpledged, including Rahall.
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