Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio is the latest superdelegate to endorse Hillary
 http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2008/0 4/congressman_tim_ryan_endorses_1.html

This is a very significant gain for Clinton as his area is not unlike that of adjacent districts in PA and could have a very positive effect on her upcoming campaign.  What's more, he was initially a Dodd supporter, I guess he didn't follow Dodd in supporting Obama.

That brings the count to FOUR since Friday, including:

Former New Jersey Governors Jim Florio and Brendan Byrne (add-on
superdelegates) and US Rep. Betty Sutton.

This left me wondering why the New York Times felt the only story that was worthy of front page coverage on the Democratic Primary was one talking about super delegates leaving the Clintons (Mark Leibovitch).  Ridiculous.  As Jay Cost has pointed out there has not been much movement in the remaining  1/3 of delegates

http://www.politico.com/superdelegates/

who still have to weigh in.   Despite Dean's desperate pleas for them to do so.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horsera ceblog/2008/04/delegates_to_dean_make_us _1.html

Clearly the SDs are waiting to see the upcoming performances in the next 10 states.  Bottomline, the Clintons simply have more and longer standing contacts in politics than Obama does after 8 years in the White House, 6 in the Senate and years in the governorship of Arkansas.  Of course, in a contentious primary some old colleagues will take the other side but many have not making the race essentially a tie right now - because to win either HRC or BO needs the remaining SDs.  If Clinton performs well in Ohio and Indiana, which she is poised to do, I think we could see a real movement of superdelegates to her.

Which brings me to Patrick Murphy, superdelegate declared for Barack Obama from the 8th District of PA  
http://www.patrickmurphy.house.gov/
Canvassing there yesterday, that area is heavily, heavily for Clinton.  Murphy's office on Mill Street is virtually wall-papered in with Clinton signs, coffee shops on his street have Bill Clinton's picture in the window - with Murphy!  Going door to door in working class neighborhoods of Levittown, there is strong Clinton enthusiasm.  I expect he will be under strong pressure to switch to Clinton after Tuesday.

Rep. Tim Ryan was in Bowling Green helping GOTV for Robin Weirauch for Congress on Friday and Saturday, and here is some video I took from an event with the Bowling Green State University College Dems (Rep. Ryan is a BGSU alum). If you can help us by doing some virtual phonebanking, we'd really appreciate it - and so would Rep. Ryan! Email phonebank4robin@gmail.com if you can phonebank.

We can win this special election - but we need your help!

Big news on the family planning front today.  Representatives Rosa Delauro (D-CT) and Tim Ryan (D-OH) got the House to include $647 million for family planning and pregnancy prevention into the Appropriations bill.  The measure is titled: "Reducing the Need for Abortions Initiative."  I hate, hate, hate how this is being framed but I can't help being excited at how the money will be spent.  It's the biggest shift on this front since Bush came to power.

Here are the changes specific to contraception from Tim Ryan's press release:

Preventive provisions:

Access to contraceptive information and services is an important element of preventing pregnancy. In addition to several funding increases for programs that increase access to contraceptives, the bill also contains provisions that seek to reduce teen pregnancy

-The first increase in more than 6 years for the Title X  family planning program,

-Teen Pregnancy Prevention Grants - a new Program at CDC - to support medically accurate, age-appropriate approaches to preventing teen pregnancies that include information about both abstinence and contraception, including the dissemination of science-based tools and strategies to prevent HIV, STD, and teen pregnancy.  

21 Republicans crossed party lines to vote in favor of the new funding.  Now they can go back to their districts and tell constituents that they voted for legislation that will help "reduce abortions."  But the real news here is the shift on sex ed and funding for Title X.  Both programs have been nearly choked to death under the Bush administration.  This is a small step in the right direction.

Meanwhile anti-choicers still aren't happy...

I wanted to spread the word that Congress Tim Ryan showed up at the Buckeye State Blog this morning for a guest post. Congressman Ryan is currently pushing the Ryan-Hunter bill that attacks China's currency manipulation which has adversely affected our trade deficit. It's a complicated subject which has contributed to the type of job loss states like Ohio have experienced in the last 7 years. With over 200,000 jobs lost in the buckeye state since 2000, and countless more nationally, folks like Tim Ryan are promising results. The Congressman was on the network circuit last week explaining his legislation, but now he's making his way around the 'sphere reaching out so that people understand this bill and see that we can fix some of our trade problems and save some of our jobs.

If you've got a second, check it out