Progress Illinois

According to sources at the Bloomington Herald-Times, Indiana congressman and superdelegate Baron Hill will endorse Barack Obama tonight. This is a nice pick-up for the Obama campaign given the stakes in Indiana and Hill's school-boy hoops reputation. He joins fellow Congressman Andre Carson as outspoken Obama backers among Indiana's congressional Democrats.

Is Hill alone? In a Politico article today, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) suggested Obama has already won the hearts and minds of most congressional superdelegates, but many are playing it safe for the time being:

“The majority of superdelegates I’ve talked to are committed, but it is a matter of timing,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). “They’re just preferring to make their decision public after the primaries are over. ... They would like someone else to act for them before they talk about it in the cold light of day.”

Obama currently holds an 18-13 lead among committed superdelegates in the Senate, while Clinton holds a 77-74 lead in the House. Asked which way the committed-but-unannounced superdelegates are leaning, McCaskill — who has endorsed Obama — said: “James Brown would say, ‘I Feel Good.’”

McCaskill's remark that many congressional superdelegates are quietly favoring Obama echoes Rep. Jan Schakowsky's comments earlier this month that she knew of "at least eight" other members of Congress who support him but are waiting to make their position public.