A co-chair of Hillary Clinton's National Hispanic Leadership Council has defected and pledged his support to Barack Obama, Clinton's rival for the Democratic presidential nomination. He was joined by another California superdelegate. The defections came as a new poll showed that Obama would handily defeat John McCain in California in November — and do so by a larger margin than Clinton would.
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He was joined by another California superdelegate, U.S. Rep. Jim Costa, a Democrat from Fresno.
Cardoza's endorsement of Clinton occurred when she appeared to be the odds-on favorite to win the nomination, with more than twice as many superdelegate supporters as Obama. That was before Obama won the Iowa caucuses and began his drive toward front-runner status.
In more recent weeks, as Clinton's lead evaporated, Cardoza and his fellow superdelegates have been getting more pressure from Obama's camp to join the winning team.
