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Six of the 26 Pennsylvania superdelegates - top election officials and Democratic party officials who can support whomever they choose - have yet to back a candidate.
If the primary election season concludes in June and neither Clinton nor Obama has the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the nomination, this group could play a key role in deciding the race.
The local holdouts are U.S. Reps. Jason Altmire (northwest of Pittsburgh), Bob Brady (Philly), Chris Carney (northeast Pennsylvania), Mike Doyle (southwestern Pennsylvania) and Tim Holden (east Central Pennsylvania) - and state AFL-CIO President William George.
Several of them said last night that they're in no rush to decide.
Brady said he's sticking by his pledge that he will follow the lead of his constituents in deciding who to support for president.
But when that commitment might come is an open question.
Brady is seen by congressional colleagues as an honest broker who could be in a position to help the party end its fight before the Denver convention in August.
"Nobody wants to go to August," said Brady.
Doyle said he hopes that voting results will make the nominee clear without a superdelegate intervention.
"I think ultimately the best-case scenario is this will be brokered by the candidates," Doyle said.
"I don't think it's going to get to a point where the superdelegates are going to confront anyone."
But he said he's prepared to endorse when "I think it's right, when I think it's beneficial to the party."
Meanwhile, Altmire said he has pledged to remain neutral until June.
Once all the votes are tallied, he hopes the path for superdelegates will be clear.
Clinton has strong support in his district, but Altmire said, "If she doesn't win the popular vote nationwide, it's going to be hard for me to go the other way."
He added: "I think we need to bring it to a close as quickly as possible. If Senator Obama is ahead on both counts by a decent margin, we all need to take a look and say everybody has voted, we've seen the results and now we need to pick our nominee and move forward."
A spokeswoman for Carney said he was not yet committed to a candidate.
She wouldn't say if that might change between now and the end of the primary season.
Efforts to reach George and Holden were unsuccessful. *
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