Blacks in Congress Torn Over Candidates

The tensions that have begun to surface are part of a generational shift within the ranks of black political leaders. For older figures such as Lewis, the prospect of an African American president was for many years unimaginable, because most black politicians of his generation hit the ceiling of their political ambitions in majority-black cities or congressional districts. But younger black politicians "look in the mirror, and they see Barack Obama's face. They see their futures," said David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. "I, quite frankly, am surprised this hasn't happened sooner."

One turning point, many CBC members said, was Obama's overwhelming victory in Virginia on Tuesday, in which he beat Clinton 50 percent to 49 percent among white voters overall and won white males by an even larger margin -- 55 percent to 43 percent -- according to exit polls. "That was the last thing that black leaders thought -- that Obama would be the stronger candidate among white men in a Southern state, the group that had been the most resistant to their agenda," Bositis said.

Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.), an Obama backer and one of the younger CBC members, predicted that his colleagues will eventually abandon Clinton because they will not want to "be on the wrong side of history," but also because of their own political interests.

"Members have to decide whether they are going to stand in the way," Davis said, warning that even longtime lawmakers could see their decisions translate into a primary challenge at home.

"Different members have to make that calculation on political terms," he said. "Some of those members have to stand in front of those constituents and explain" their support for Clinton. "Those are powerful pressures."

The discussion has come as senior Democratic leaders this week signaled in increasingly direct language that they will seek to unify superdelegates behind the candidate with the most popular support.

"I don't think it was ever intended that the superdelegates would overturn the verdict, the decision of the American people," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday.

Even staunch Clinton allies acknowledged that circumstances have changed.

"If you had an exciting candidate you didn't think was viable, and suddenly he becomes viable, that's something you would have to consider," said Rep. Charles B. Rangel (N.Y.), the Ways and Means Committee chairman. But the race could still turn back in Clinton's favor, he said. "We don't know what's going to happen."