Barack Obama's decisive victory Tuesday in North Carolina's Democratic presidential primary began to loosen the logjam of uncommitted Tar Heel superdelegates, with two supporting Obama and one committing to Hillary Rodham Clinton.

State Democratic Chairman Jerry Meek on Wednesday announced he was endorsing Obama, saying the Illinois senator is the candidate best positioned to stimulate turnout among young voters, black voters and independent voters.

"I felt like Senator Obama has the potential to bring out a lot of voters in the fall who don't typically vote in large numbers," Meek said. "I think he will be good for North Carolina's entire ticket. I think he will change the way business is done in Washington."

Meek said he decided several months ago to back Obama but waited until after North Carolina's primary to announce his decision. On Tuesday, Jeanette Council, a Cumberland County commissioner, endorsed Obama.

Meanwhile, Democratic U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler announced Wednesday that he was supporting Clinton. He reaffirmed his pledge that he would back the presidential hopeful who got the most votes in his congressional district in Western North Carolina, which Clinton did.

There are now eight North Carolina superdelegates who have endorsed Obama, three who have endorsed Clinton and six who remain uncommitted.

The remaining uncommitted delegates are U.S. Reps. Bob Etheridge, Brad Miller and Mike McIntyre, and party officials David Parker, Muriel Offerman and Carol Peterson.

"I'm remaining uncommitted," said McIntyre, a Lumberton Democrat. "I plan to do so until the August convention. I feel like its very important to let the primary process work nationally. ... It's very important for citizens to feel they have a strong role in who their nominee is."

If no candidate wins enough committed delegates through the primary and caucus process, the decision will come down to a group of unpledged superdelegates -- mainly elected and party leaders.

The courting of uncommitted superdelegates has been intense and personal.

Offerman, a deputy chairwoman of the state Employment Security Commission, met twice with Clinton during her trips to Raleigh. Chelsea Clinton has called Offerman to ask her to support her mother.

Obama has called, and Offerman has met his wife, Michelle Obama. Offerman also had lunch with Tony Lake, who was President Clinton's national security adviser but who is now backing Obama.

"I am vacillating back and forth about what I should do," Offerman said. "I'm still uncommitted. How long I will stay that way, I don't know."

Obama won 97 regular delegates in North Carolina's primary, while Clinton won 86, according to The Associated Press. Obama won the state's primary by a commanding 56-42 percent margin after a furious campaign.

Hillary, Bill and Chelsea Clinton made 81 stops in North Carolina, with the Clintons lending her campaign $6.4 million over the past month to help pay for the operation. Barack and Michelle Obama attended 21 events in North Carolina.

But the Obama campaign put on one of the most powerful grass-roots operations that North Carolina has ever seen. By the end of the campaign, the Obama campaign said it had 300 paid staffers operating out of 81 offices across the state to assist a cadre of 15,300 volunteers.

The Obama campaign estimated it knocked on 500,000 doors, including 200,000 on election day.

"We knew even as the polls tightened, we were confident what we could produce on the ground," said Craig Schirmer, Obama's state director.

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