Still uncommitted, Pecoraro taking superdelegate decision ‘day by day’

As a member of the Democratic National Committee, Westminster Councilman Gregory Pecoraro is a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention in August. He is one of the state's nine uncommitted superdelegates, which means he's been busy fielding phone calls and meeting with the candidates and their surrogates.

Despite all the pressure to support either Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) or Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Pecoraro told PolitickerMD.com that he is taking the process in a "day by day" manner.

"There's not a lot of more information to gather," Pecoraro said, predicting, "You are seeing superdelegates starting to move to make decisions, and I think you will see more of that."

Despite her victory in Tuesday's West Virginia primary, Clinton still trails Obama 1599-1447 among pledged delegates and 1885-1723 when committed superdelegates are factored into the equation, according to an NBC News count. A total of 2,026 delegates are needed to secure the nomination.

While the one-on-one campaign between Obama and Clinton has stretched for several months, Pecoraro said he has "only really been thinking about (his decision) for ten days now" because he "promised to remain uncommitted" until the state Democratic Central Committee finalized the party's delegate slate to the convention on May 3.

"I intentionally tried not to think about it," Pecoraro said.

Now, with the delegation in place, Pecoraro would not say when he would make a decision.

"We're charged with looking at the whole context and analyzing what the Democratic electorate is trying to say," Pecoraro said.

He said Clinton's victory in West Virginia would not necessarily have an effect on his decision, adding, "Every primary is a factor that uncommitted superdelegates have to look at."

Asked if remaining uncommitted superdelegates should support Obama when he achieves a majority of pledged delegates, expected to happen Tuesday, Pecoraro said, "I think that's a decision each delegate has to make."

In addition, Pecoraro said he expected the contest would come to a close in the immediate aftermath of the final primaries, scheduled for June 3.

"That being said-the twists and turns of the race make it difficult to make a decision," Pecoraro said.

Pecoraro served on the council from 1994-2003; he was appointed in 2005 to fill the vacancy created by the election of Thomas Ferguson as mayor and elected in May 2007.