As this competition for democratic presidential nominee draws to a close, it looks increasingly likely that Barack Obama will head to Denver's convention with a lead in delegates.  In order to secure victory, both Obama and Hillary Clinton will have to convince their party's 796 superdelegates to vote in their favor.  If you've been wondering what precisely is a superdelegate, here's a definition posted on wikipedia.

One of these superdelegates, John Lewis, a congressman from Georgia who initially supported Hillary Clinton, has now announced that he will cast his vote for Obama in August at the Democratic Convention.   A civil rights icon, Lewis was criticized for throwing his support behind Clinton.  Now that he has shifted toward Obama, Lewis initiates what will undoubtedly be a series of high profile announcements.  Unlike celebrity and political endorsements, superdelegates actually get to vote and therefore their support really matters. 

In other news:

University of Michigan Professor and author of, The Shifting Grounds of Race: Black and Japanese Americans in the Making of Multiethnic Los Angeles, Scott Kurashige, posted this essay at The Huffington Post on Thursday.  Entitled, "What’s the Matter with Paul Krugman?" Kurashige explores Krugman's desperate attempt to reinsert himself as an expert voice as Hillary Clinton's campaign collapses.  Kurashige challenges Krugman, and by extension all academics to step outside our bubbles if we are to properly try analyzing social movements:

Following up on last week's conversation about financing, John McCain has challenged Obama to live up to his pledge last year to accept public financing for the general election. 

Clinton has begun making moves toward seating delegates from Michigan and Florida.  As some of you might remember, the democratic candidates initially vowed not to campaign and to take their names off ballots in these two states as a way of voicing their displeasure with the decision to move up their primaries.  Hillary Clinton won both of these informal primaries, and now wants to have them seated.  Julian Bond, says that civil rights of Michigan and Florida are being violated.  Meanwhile, Al Sharpton, argues that the votes should not count because too many people did not vote since they thought that their votes would not count.