But others expressed anxiety that the continued scuffling would ultimately weaken the Democratic nominee and hurt party candidates up and down the ballot in November. And there was virtually no support for Clinton's notion to take her fight to the floor of the convention, which begins Aug. 25.
"If the tone of the presidential campaign continues on this negative trajectory, it will create wounds that are hard to heal," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), an uncommitted delegate who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "And it would be a big mistake to have a divisive convention in the full glare of TV lights."
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, who has been outspoken in urging superdelegates to unify behind a candidate well before the convention, said, "If it all comes together on the 4th of June, when the last thing is over, I don't think lasting damage is done."
But, beyond that, he continued, "you can't have 2 1/2 months of the candidates explaining why the other one is not suited to be president and go into the convention with a divided party. I just don't think you can do that and start [the general election campaign] on Labor Day and expect to win a presidential election that way."
Superdelegates are Democratic Party leaders and elected officials who are free to support whomever they choose. They will almost certainly determine the presidential nominee because neither Obama nor Clinton seems likely to win sufficient delegates at the ballot box to clinch the nomination.
With her victory in Pennsylvania, Clinton made a net gain of eight delegates, leaving Obama with an overall lead of 1,723.5 to 1592.5 delegates, according to the Associated Press. It requires 2,024 delegates to secure the nomination, and there are nine contests remaining. Nearly 90% of the pledged delegates have been allocated.
About 300 superdelegates -- out of 794 total -- remain uncommitted.
Many are keeping a watchful eye on how the candidates perform in the rest of the balloting. Pennsylvania, once viewed as an important bellwether, appeared to have changed few minds.
Obama picked up the endorsement Wednesday of Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry, despite the fact that the state's Democrats voted overwhelmingly for Clinton. (The endorsement had apparently been planned for some time.) Obama also won the backing of Audra Ostergard, associate chairwoman of the Nebraska Democratic Party.
