2008 Democratic presidential primary

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama: Photo by Getty ImagesMaryland Democratic Party Chairman Michael Cryor told PolitickerMD.com today that he hopes his decision to publicly endorse Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) will "sway" other superdelegates to the same conclusion. Cryor and state party Vice Chairwoman Lauren Dugas Glover, also a superdelegate, announced their endorsement for Obama yesterday at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Cryor, who has privately been an Obama supporter for some time, said he and Dugas Glover "committed to not endorsing until we had set aside all our requirements as a party."

The Maryland Democratic Central Committee finalized the state's delegation to the Democratic National Convention on Saturday.

"I thought it was important to do now," Cryor said, citing the completion of the delegation, the fact that the Maryland primary has long since passed, the importance of today's primaries in Indiana and North Carolina and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean's encouragement of superdelegates to make a decision.