In early January, most of North Carolina's 19 superdelegates were ready to back former N.C. Sen. John Edwards for the Democratic nomination for president.
Now with Edwards out and a close Democratic race, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are trying to convert as many superdelegates as they can to their side of the contest.
Superdelegates are Democratic congressmen, governors, former presidents and vice presidents and other party leaders who are automatically granted an individual vote at the Democratic National Convention.
Who they vote for is entirely up to their personal wishes. Superdelegates can change their endorsement at any time leading up to the official vote at the party's convention in August.
"Certainly everybody is getting calls," said Paul Cox, press secretary for U.S. Rep. David Price, D-N.C., a superdelegate.
"The superdelegate count could be decisive," Cox said.
Charlotte Mayor Pro Tem and superdelegate Susan Burgess, who has been friends with Hillary Clinton since before her husband's presidency, was asked by Clinton early on to be the authorized delegate representative in the N.C. campaign.
Three other N.C. superdelegates, U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., First Vice Chairwoman of the N.C. Democratic Party Dannie Montgomery and former Democratic Party Director Everett Ward have endorsed Obama.
While Burgess has not been actively campaigning on Clinton's behalf, it's her job to talk with and recruit as many superdelegates as she can to Clinton's side.
"So far people are noncommittal, which is politically very savvy," she said. "You get courted by both campaigns."
Even though she has been committed to the Clinton campaign since shortly after Clinton's initial filing, she still has received calls from both camps.
"Both campaigns are very interested in us all of a sudden, and obviously it's because of the close races," she said of the unique position of superdelegates.
In 1984 superdelegates were also in the spotlight. Although Gary Hart won 16 primary states to Walter Mondale's 10, all of the superdelegates at that time had already endorsed Mondale and handed him the nomination.
"I think when push comes to shove what (superdelegates) are going to care about is winnability, how best to counter the Republican candidate," said UNC sociology professor Andrew Perrin, noting that the Democratic Party might yet see a front-runner emerge.
Though Obama has momentum, presidency scholar William E. Leuchtenburg said, the party elite likely won't make a move until the voters weed out a favorite.
"If it does reach a point that one of the two candidates has a very considerable lead, then at that point the large majority of the superdelegates may mass around a particular candidate," he said.
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