Rendell to follow Clinton’s lead and back Obama

DENVER — Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D), one of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s most important supporters during the Democratic primary, has told Pennsylvania delegates that Clinton will vote Wednesday for Sen. Barack Obama to become the Democratic nominee for president. 

{mosads}Rendell told Pennsylvania delegates during a breakfast meeting at the Marriott in Denver Tech Center that he will also vote for Obama, according to sources who attended the meeting. Rendell said he would vote for Obama because Clinton (D-N.Y.) told him she would back the Illinois Democrat, those sources said.

Pennsylvania delegates began filling out ballots for the party’s nominee shortly after breakfast along with other state delegations. The Obama campaign said early Wednesday morning a roll-call vote would be held Wednesday afternoon.

One Pennsylvania delegate said that Clinton will make a formal announcement after lunch of her support for Obama. Connecticut delegates held their vote during a breakfast meeting at the Marriott.

Clinton, who pleaded for her supporters to back Obama during a convention speech Tuesday night, is scheduled to meet with her delegates this afternoon in Denver. Some remain frustrated with the process, prompting concerns that Democrats will not unify behind Obama. 

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) visited the Iowa delegation's breakfast and urged them to unite behind Obama."Are you ready for victory? They you'be better be ready for unity," she said.

But some delegates said they planned to vote for Clinton on the floor, regardless of what she tells them to do. 

"It appears they're trying to prevent us from having a vote on the floor," Ione Shadduck, a delegate from Iowa, said after a meeting of the Iowa delegation. "The third district elected me to come here and vote for Hillary. We're not obligated to her. We're obligated to the people who sent us here."

Jennifer Just, a delegate from Woodbridge, said that as many as 10 to 15 delegates may have voted for Clinton because they had not yet received word from her that she would back Obama.

Connecticut delegates did not immediately know the outcome of the morning vote but said they expected Obama to win it. Obama won the Connecticut primary on Super Tuesday.

The party is expected to hold a formal roll call to nominate Obama on the convention floor later in the day.

 Mike Soraghan contributed to this story.