The Trail

Three of the Democratic Party's highly sought-after superdelegates -- all three of whom support Clinton -- appeared in her Federal Election Commission report filed last week.

A fourth, Jeremy Bernard, is a partner in a California fundraising firm that was paid $114,000 by Obama's campaign.

Superdelegates are the Democratic elected officials, party dignitaries and other key party leaders, who are likely to play a critical role in selecting the nominee at the Democratic National Convention. Because of their interest in politics, campaign officials have said it is not surprising that some might be involved in campaign work; the party has no rules prohibiting campaigns from paying superdelegates.

The firm owned by former Rhode Island Democratic state chairman and superdelegate Mark Weiner took in $678,000 from the Clinton campaign for supplying campaign products such as bumper stickers and yard signs. His firm, Financial Innovations, has been paid more than $1.5 million over the course of the campaign, according to the reports.

Factotum Productions, a Massachusetts business run by Clinton superdelegate Gus Bickford, was paid $8,000 in November for consulting that started the day he endorsed Clinton. Payments continued in February, to the tune of another $11,000. The campaign also made payments to Kathleen Healy, based at the same Westford, Mass., address as Factotum.

The Clinton campaign has paid the marketing firm run by a third superdelegate, Steve Grossman, about $3,000 for printing costs. The campaign owes the firm another $18,000, the FEC filing shows.

-- Matthew Mosk