Democrat Barack Obama's White House campaign signed on two more high-profile supporters Wednesday in a further blow to Hillary Clinton's hopes of seizing the party nomination.
The Illinois senator won the endorsement of Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal -- a Democratic "superdelegate" free to vote for either candidate -- and Lee Hamilton, one of the party's most respected foreign policy sages.
Freudenthal, who served in president Bill Clinton's administration as a federal attorney, became the 65th superdelegate to endorse Obama since the nationwide nominating clashes of "Super Tuesday" on February 5.
The Wyoming governor, whose state was swept by Obama in March 8 caucuses, decried the "negativity, partisanship and lack of purpose" that he said were crippling the United States.
"While no one individual can effect this change alone, the change must begin with someone," Freudenthal said in a statement.
"Senator Obama is the Democratic candidate with the openness, honesty and skill to end this vicious cycle of business as usual."
The role of the nearly 800 superdelegates is likely to be crucial in determining the Democrats' standard-bearer against Republican John McCain, with Obama just barely ahead of Clinton in terms of elected delegates.
While not a superdelegate, Hamilton was widely respected as vice chairman of the commission that investigated the September 11 attacks of 2001, and co-chair of the Iraq Study Group, which recommended a new approach to the war.
The long-time member of Congress from Indiana, whose support could help burnish Obama's limited legislative experience, praised his foreign policy as "pragmatic, visionary, and tough."
"He champions the politics of consensus, not of partisan division," Hamilton said in another statement.
"He will work with our friends and allies. He will strengthen our ability to use all tools of American power and relentlessly promote the American values of freedom and justice for all people."
Obama welcomed the two new endorsements as he battled Clinton in Pennsylvania ahead of the rust-belt state's primary on April 22.
