The Salt Lake Tribune reported today that Obama has picked up another superdelegate in Utah Democratic Party chairperson Wayne Holland (as well as the add-on that Holland will appoint).
The headline reads "Obama gets two nods from Utah", but I think they buried the lede:
Before announcing his endorsement, Holland canvassed the 158 people running as Democrats in Utah for everything from governor to county commission and nearly 80 percent of them supported Obama.
continued...
Holland's private poll may be the best evidence yet of a fact many of us have long assumed and which some state-by-state polling has implied to us: Obama can lift down-ticket Dems in "red" western states.
Back to the Trib:
[Holland] said he believes the excitement from an Obama candidacy could help Democratic candidates prevail in local contests.
"No doubt that the Obama factor will assist us in Utah if he is the nominee," Holland said.
By the way, another Utah super who has endorsed Obama is former congressperson Bill Orton. He represented the deep red 3rd district for 3 terms in the 1990s. Orton's choice of Barack over Hillary was really no surprise to me. After all, he lost his House seat narrowly in a year when his name appeared next to another Clinton, who would draw only 33.3% on the top of the ticket.
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