Miller stopped short of advising Clinton to drop out. But he said Tuesday’s results convinced him that Obama will be the nominee: “I expect that more strongly today than yesterday.”
Obama’s growing delegate lead means Clinton needs an overwhelming majority among superdelegates — members of Congress and other party officials — to win the nomination. Obama aides estimate that Clinton will have to win the backing of more than two-thirds of pledged delegates and undeclared superdelegates, which would be difficult.
Clinton’s allies sought a meeting late Wednesday between the candidate and neutral Democrats such as Rep. John Spratt (S.C.) and Rep. Zack Space (Ohio). But other uncommitted superdelegates such as Reps. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) and John Olver (D-Mass.) were not aware of any effort by Clinton to contact them.
Prominent Clinton supporters who declined to call for her to re-evaluate her candidacy nevertheless acknowledge she faced a tough road to the nomination.
“It’s an uphill battle,” said Rep. John Murtha (Pa.), one of the most influential Democrats in the House.
“She has to win the popular vote to convince the superdelegates to vote for her,” said Murtha, who gave Clinton crucial support before Pennsylvania’s primary. “Superdelegates will decide on the popular vote.”
Obama leads Clinton nationwide by about 700,000 votes, not counting Michigan and Florida, according to RealClearPolitics.com , a website that tracks election results. National Democratic officials invalidated the results of the Michigan and Florida primaries because they held contests on dates that violated party rules.
Counting the results from Michigan and Florida, Clinton trails Obama by only 85,000 votes or so, giving her a chance of catching him in the remaining primaries.
Several Clinton supporters said that every state deserves to vote in the primary and that withdrawing from the race now would not provide much benefit to the party.
“We should allow these primaries to be held,” said Rep. Ed Pastor (D-Ariz.).
Several neutral superdelegates agreed with these Clinton allies.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur, an uncommitted Democrat from Ohio, said her constituents have urged her to let every state finish voting.
Crystal Strait, an uncommitted superdelegate who represents the Young Democrats of America for the Democratic National Committee, said she was not moved any closer to a decision Tuesday night because she has been encouraged by the level of Democratic participation she has seen in other states.
“I want to let it play out,” Strait said. “I don’t understand the people who say that this is a problem for the Democratic Party.”
Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) who was previously uncommitted, is backing Clinton because she won his district on Tuesday.
J.Taylor Rushing contributed to this report.
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