Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina has just endorsed Barack Obama for President!  Also, 34 House members are expected to endorse Barack Obama tomorrow.  The deluge of superdelegate endorsements has begun and Sen. Barack Obama should be able to claim the presumptive nominee status tomorrow perhaps even before the conclusion of the South Dakota and Montana primaries. 

COLUMBIA, SC (AP) - House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn is endorsing Barack Obama for president.The South Carolina congressman told The Associated Press on Monday that he has started to phone the state’s superdelegates to ask them to get behind one candidate. When asked whether that candidate was Obama, Clyburn said yes.

Clyburn says he’ll make a formal endorsement announcement Tuesday.

The backing of the highest-ranking black member of Congress comes more than four months after Obama won the Democratic primary in South Carolina.

Obama needs just 44 delegates to get the 2,118 that are needed to secure the presidential nomination. Hillary Rodham Clinton would need about 200.