LISA ZAGAROLI and DAVID INGRAMTwo N.C. superdelegates endorsed U.S. Sen. Barack Obama for president Wednesday.
U.S. Reps. Mel Watt and David Price held a conference call to announce their decision to endorse Obama over Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York.
“Only one candidate in this election has captured this spirit of change and excitement,” Watt, a Charlotte Democrat, told reporters. “Only one candidate has marshaled this spirit of change into a movement that is completely inclusive, uniquely democratic and uniquely American. That candidate is Barack Obama.”
Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, said Obama would be competitive in North
Carolina with expected Republican nominee John McCain in November.
“He can change the equation in North Carolina,” Price said, “and I look forward to helping him do so.”
The endorsements mean Obama has the public support of six N.C. superdelegates compared to Clinton’s one - Charlotte City Council member Susan Burgess - according to the Democratic Convention Watch blog.
All the Democrats in the N.C. congressional delegation had endorsed former U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, and until now only one had announced an endorsement of either of the two remaining candidates. U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield also endorsed Obama.
Watt said undecided members of the delegation are looking at how Clinton and Obama would fare here in November. “They are talking to their constituents and seeing which candidate will take North Carolina most seriously and is likely to have the prospect of winning North Carolina,” Watt said.
Price and Watt are two of the state’s most influential representatives in Washington.
Price, a former Duke political scientist, was first elected to Congress in 1986. He is the most senior Democratic congressman from North Carolina and he chairs an appropriations subcommittee.
Watt, a lawyer, was first elected in 1992. He is chair of a financial services subcommittee - a key post for his hometown - and is a past chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
While supporting Edwards, Watt told the Observer in January that he was concerned about “whether the electorate would support an African American candidate or a female candidate for president.”
He said race is still a factor any time a black candidate is running for office, but that the country has made progress in recent years.
“I’d have to say I’m surprised - and pleasantly surprised - that Barack’s campaign has continued to build momentum, because I saw at the end of Harvey Gantt’s campaign in 1990 some movement away from Harvey,” said Watt, who managed Gantt’s Democratic campaign for U.S. Senate against Republican incumbent Jesse Helms.
“But, as I say, that was 18 years ago and this is a new day in America and I expect this to be a new outcome in North Carolina,” Watt said.
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