NANCY'S ORDERS It's unlikely that either candidate will clinch the nomination based on next week's primaries, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is urging all superdelegates to declare their support in the next 10 days. Along those lines, Barack Obama promises there will be a nominee by next week. [HP]

JUST SUPER Barack Obama told a group of undeclared superdelegates from Florida yesterday that he was committed to seating the state's delegates at the national convention, although they have been stripped of their relevance by the DNC after the state violated the party's rules. It's the first time Obama has made a clear promise to do this. In a letter to Obama yesterday, Hillary Clinton wrote, "It is not enough to simply seat their representatives at the convention in Denver. The people of these great states, like the people who have voted and are to vote in other states, must have a voice in selecting our party's nominee."

UNDER PRESSURE Howard Dean says that for the good of the party (and probably in part so he'll never have to deal with that pesky FL and MI issue), superdelegates should announce their candidates of choice already and end the democratic nominee race. “I need them to say who they’re for, starting now,” Dean told CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer. "[Democrats] cannot give up three months of campaigning and active healing time… We’ve got to know who our nominee is, and there’s no reason not to know after the last primary on June 3." [NYT]

FEAR OF COMMITMENT Congressman James Clyburn, the House Majority Whip and uncommitted superdelegate who caused a stir when he criticized Bill Clinton for playing up race during the S.C. primary, is being honored with the Louis E. Martin Great American Award, given annually by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. Previous recipients of the award include Rep. Charles Rangel, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. Rumor has it Barack Obama might take a break from campaigning to attend the awards dinner, clearly in hopes that Clyburn won't stay uncommitted for long. [CBS]

HARD TIMES FOR GOVERNORS Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá of Puerto Rico was charged yesterday with 19 criminal counts for, among other things, tax fraud and using campaign money to pay for family vacations, his credit card bills, and $57,000 worth of designer clothing. "Mr. Acevedo said the indictment, which charges him with crimes related to financing three campaigns from 1999 to 2004, was “politically motivated” and “totally false.”' Acevedo, who has been called upon to resign, is a superdelegate and a supporter of Barack Obama. Score one for Hillary Clinton. Although, according to Slate's "Hillary Deathwatch," she'll need more than one fallen Obama superdelegate to raise her 12 percent chance of winning.

Superdelegate and Congressman and Civil rights Icon John Lewis sort of said this a couple of weeks ago and then sort of took it back. Now he's saying it again. The former Hillary Clinton supporter has announced that he will give Barack Obama his vote at the convention, mostly because his district voted overwhelmingly for Obama in the Georgia primary but also because "something's happening in America, something some of us did not see coming," Lewis said. "Barack Obama has tapped into something that is extraordinary."

Lewis's previous announcement struck fear in the hearts of black, Clinton-supporting superdelegates who predicted that they would be pressured to follow Lewis. Many of them have pledged to stick to their initial endorsement of Clinton regardless of constituency's vote. [AJC]

What to do when you're a black person in a leadership position who put your weight behind what the white candidate who was supposed to be a sure thing, only to watch the election swing in favor of the black candidate you underestimated? If you're taking your clues from the numerous CBC members and prominent black politicians who have endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, you start freaking out.

According to the Washington Post, the shit really hit the fan when Rep. John Lewis, a Clintonite, said he would not go against the will of his Obama-loving Georgia district when it came time to cast his vote as a superdelegate. Lewis later backtracked, but it was too late.

Some of Clinton's other black supporters decided to rally and try to blunt the fallout. Among those on the conference call were Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer, former Denver mayor Wellington Webb, and congresswomen Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio.

Palmer was among the more forceful voices, urging others on the call, as he put it yesterday, "to stand up and say why you're for Hillary Clinton in the face of adversity. We can't afford to be wishy-washy . . . Stand up. Fight. Advocate for your candidate. Don't capitulate. . . . Don't let nobody intimidate or threaten you. Just hold on."

Palmer said he's willing to brave the fallout from his constituents if it means he gets to follow the candidate he believes in. Something tells me that others aren't quite as confident.

No matter who ends up with the popular vote in the contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the likelihood is that it's going to be close — close enough to be decided by the all-too-powerful superdeleagates come convention-time. Since this is a real possibility, it presents a very controversial question. Will the superdelegates go along with the will of the Democratic voters? The answer to that question might depend on who ends up with the most pledged delegates. As of now, Hillary Clinton has 234 superdelegates in her corner, while Barack Obama has 157. There are nearly 800 of them, and many have not yet chosen sides.

If the superdelegates were to tip the balance against the popular vote, the turmoil would last long beyond the convention, longtime Democratic Party strategist Tad Devine said.

"If a perception develops that somehow this decision has been made not by voters participating in primaries or caucuses, but by politicians in some mythical backroom, I think that the public could react strongly against that," Devine said.

"The problem is [if] people perceive that voters have not made the decision — instead, insiders have made the decision — then all of these new people who are being attracted to the process, particularly the young people who are voting for the first time, will feel disenfranchised or in some way alienated," he said.

Eliminating any bias you have toward one candidate or another, how would you feel if the candidate with the most pledged delegates loses because of superdelegates? It's certainly not against the rules for superdelegates to do this, but how would it effect the Democratic party and voter morale during the general election? [CNN]