From the Washington Post:

Obama picked up endorsements from nine superdelegates Friday, expanding his lead in the overall delegate count and moving him into a virtual tie with Clinton in superdelegates.

"He's winning," former senator John Edwards, who quit the race earlier this year, said in an interview. "He's ahead, he's ahead in delegates, he's ahead in the popular vote, he's raising a lot more money, and I think this thing is headed toward a close in the not-too-distant future. So it's clear this thing is coming to an end." Edwards, who is leading a new initiative to combat poverty, said he is not close to making an endorsement but he held out the possibility that he may still take sides.

Campaigning in Oregon, Obama continued his shift into general-election mode, keeping his focus almost exclusively on Sen. John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee, and mentioning Clinton only when voters asked about her. Obama criticized McCain's tax-cut proposals, his health-care plan (which Obama said would not help the sick and the less affluent) and his Iraq policy, among other things.

"Senator McCain is running for president to double down on George Bush's failed policies. I am running to change them, and that will be the fundamental difference in this election when I am the Democratic nominee for president," he said during an appearance at a software firm here. "John McCain will stand with Washington's tried and, I believe, failed approaches of the past. I will stand with the American people on behalf of a new direction, because I believe it's time for America to once again be a place where you can make it if you try."

... Obama said he was "gratified" by his additional superdelegate endorsements Friday, which by some counts put him over the top in that department, but his celebration was muted. "Our focus has always been on the pledged delegates and just getting the American people to vote for us, and we think that, ultimately, that should be the strongest measure of who's the nominee," he said. "But if superdelegates also feel that we're going to be a strong candidate, then I'm very pleased with that." An Associated Press tally Friday showed Obama with 1,859 total delegates and Clinton with 1,698. A total of 2,025 are needed to clinch the nomination.

From the New York Times:

Democratic officials said what had been a trickle of superdelegates declaring for Mr. Obama was turning into a steady stream in the wake of Tuesday's primaries, when Mrs. Clinton lost by 14 percentage points in North Carolina and narrowly won Indiana. Mr. Obama is just 166 delegates away from the 2,025 delegates needed to secure the nomination.

"I think the tipping point was reached around midnight last Tuesday," said Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, predicting a "significant and steady movement toward Obama" by superdelegates.

... Mr. Obama, asked at a meeting with voters in Beaverton, Ore., about the possibility of offering Mrs. Clinton the vice-presidential slot, said: "I have not won this nomination yet. I think it would be presumptuous of me to suggest that she's going to be my running mate when we're still actively running."

From the Wall Street Journal:

Sen. Obama seemed less focused on the math than on winning over voters in Oregon with a pitch that drew sharp distinctions with Sen. McCain. As part of what was billed as an "Economic Discussion" in Beaverton, Ore., the Illinois senator sought to link Sen. McCain with President Bush. "Sen. McCain is running for president to double down on George Bush's failed policies," he said. "I am running to change them, and that will be the fundamental difference in this election when I am the Democratic nominee for president."

From the Oregon Daily Emerald:

Sen. Barack Obama returned to the University Friday with a rally on the Memorial Quad during his presidential campaign's third swing through Oregon.

Obama made stops in Beaverton and Albany before addressing an estimated 8,000 people from an temporary stage between the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and Prince Lucien Campbell Hall, where a banner reading "Folklorists 4 Change" hung from a window.

... Sophomore Grace Moen said Obama made her "feel proud to be an American again."

... For the most part, Obama stuck to his usual stump speech, with pledges to end the war in Iraq, invest in alternative energy sources and lower the cost of higher education.

"I love his idea about having students do community work so college will be more affordable," Junior Misa Belcher said.

Some students said they were undecided about whom to vote for in Oregon's May 20 primary. Others, such as freshman Neil Browning, registered as Democrats just for the chance to cast a primary ballot.

"I think that he's a uniter," Browning said. "He's really charismatic and he brings people together and that's what our country needs right now."

The group Students for Barack Obama estimated 7,000 people in Lane County registered as Democrats to vote in the primary.

Sophomore Micah Carelli was already a Democrat. She said she supports Obama because he is not a Washington insider.

"I feel like our country needs to listen to the people instead of big corporations and I feel like he would do that better than the other candidates," she said.

From the Associated Press:

A record number of West Virginians have cast early ballots for a primary in advance of Tuesday's election.

... With early voting ending Saturday, Secretary of State Betty Ireland reported 49,982 ballots cast in 52 of West Virginia's 55 counties between April 23 and Friday. Ireland's office said another 4,916 absentee ballots have been returned.

About 71 percent of these voters have been Democrats, who outnumber Republicans in the state by nearly 2-to-1. The majority party invited unaffiliated voters into its primary for the first time this year, though just 6.2 percent of the early voters were independents or nonpartisans.

... the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama campaigns have sought to flush out early voters the most. At stake are 18 of West Virginia's delegates to the Democrats' national convention -- three men and three women in each of its three U.S. House districts.

... volunteers for both candidates canvassed neighborhoods across the state.