James Clyburn

Two takeaways from today's superdelegate happenings:

1. It looks like House Majority Whip James Clyburn will endorse Barack Obama tomorrow, sans leadership partners Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi -- despite a claim that was attributed to him.

2. Ben Cardin and fellow undeclared Senators Jon Tester, Tom Carper and Ken Salazar were summoned by elder colleague Tom Harkin to the Democrats' D.C. headquarters for a discussion on whether they should endorse or not. Obama won the contests in all of their states. Afterwards, Cardin was quoted at length by CNN.

If Sen. Barack Obama passes the majority threshold of pledged delegates in today's contests in Oregon and Kentucky, he will have met the criteria for an endorsement from several major superdelegates, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Recently, House Majority Whip James Clyburn told The State that he, Pelosi and House Leader Steny Hoyer would endorse together. Hoyer had not set a numerical standard for a candidate to attain his endorsement, but has suggested that the race might not need to go all the way to June.

In case you missed it last week, House Majority Whip James Clyburn told his South Carolinian paper, The State, that he, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer will decide together when to endorse a Democratic presidential candidate.

Open Left’s Matt Stoller notes another corporate fundraiser for Rep. Al Wynn, taking place this afternoon.

Rep. Elijah CummingsRep. Elijah Cummings, the chief backer of Barack Obama's presidential campaign in Maryland, will campaign for the Illinois Senator in South Carolina tomorrow.

Cummings, a former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, is an asset to Obama in a state where at least 50 percent of the Jan. 26 Democratic primary turnout will be African American. He will make an evening appearance in Edgefield County, on the western side of the state.

Obama is expected to compete heavily with Sen. Hillary Clinton for South Carolina's black votes. Clinton has received endorsements from 16 members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including one yesterday by New Jersey Rep. Donald Payne. Last month, Obama drew a crowd of 29,000 in the state when he appeared with television star Oprah Winfrey.