WASHINGTON - It's not a stampede yet - but the superdelegates are starting to gallop toward Sen. Barack Obama.

Obama picked up nine superdelegate endorsements Friday to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's two. That left them virtually tied among supers and eliminated the last statistical measure where Clinton could claim an edge.

The American Federation of Government Employees, which claims 600,000 workers in the federal and Washington, D.C., governments, also announced support for Obama.

The developments left Clinton with 272 superdelegates, to 271 for Obama, according to The Associated Press.

Overall, Obama leads with 1,859 delegates, to 1,698 for Clinton. Obama is 166 delegates short of the 2,025 delegates needed to win it.

One of Obama's pickups was Clinton defector New Jersey Rep. Donald Payne, a top member of the Congressional Black Caucus. He is one of at least 10 superdelegates who have switched allegiances from Clinton to Obama. None have defected the other way.

Still, Clinton strategist Geoff Garin rebuffed the notion that the race was over, saying many of the 253 still-uncommitted superdelegates would stick with Clinton because she is "in a better position to win the general election."

Still, storm clouds were gathering above the former first lady's flagging campaign all day Friday - with Rasmussen Reports, a major national polling outfit, halting polling on the race, saying "the race is over ... Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee."

"I think it's very hard for her now to make a compelling case for the math," said former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who hasn't endorsed since dropping out of the race, in an interview on National Public Radio. "I mean, I think that's the reality of what she's faced with. She knows that."

And Clinton advisers still were defending the campaign against charges of racial divisiveness.

Clinton stirred controversy Wednesday when she told USA Today that she has a "much broader base to build a winning coalition on" than Obama. Clinton also referred to an Associated Press article, saying it "found how Senator Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites ... who had not completed college were supporting me."

By Glenn Thrush, Newsday, May 10, 2008