archives

ABC News:

Returning to presidential politics, Powell condemned controversial remarks by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's pastor of 20 years, as "deplorable" but complimented the Democratic candidate for his speech on race that followed in the aftermath.

"Rev. Wright is also somebody who has made enormous contributions in his community and has turned a lot of lives around," Powell said, "And so, I have to put that in context with these very offensive comments that he made, which I reject out of hand."

Powell added that he does not know Wright, and praised Obama's response.

"I think that Sen. Obama handled the issue well ... he didn't look the other way. He didn't wait for the, for the, you know, for the storm to go over. He went on television, and I thought, gave a very, very thoughtful, direct speech. And he didn't abandon the minister who brought him closer to his faith," Powell told [Diane] Sawyer.

That's one more superdelegate for Obama (Salt Lake Tribune):

Holland is one of six Utah superdelegates who can decide whom to support for the Democratic nominee regardless of the results of the state primary. But in explaining his decision, Holland leaned heavily on Obama's big win in Utah's Feb. 5 vote.

"Sen. Obama has helped to energize our state party," Holland said in a statement. "While we are blessed at having two exceptional candidates, Obama was clearly the choice of Utah Democrats."

Utah's other five superdelegates remain split. Former U.S. Rep. Bill Orton is backing Obama, while former state Sen. Karen Hale and state party committeewoman Helen Langan are backing Clinton. Though, Hale and Langan are considering a switch to Obama.

Rep. Jim Matheson remains undecided. Holland will name the sixth superdelegate during the state Democratic convention in May.

Ralph Becker and Peter Corroon, as well as our own Political Action Committee chair Sheryl Ginsberg, have applied to be some of Utah's 23 pledged delegates (Salt Lake Tribune):