The day after one of his biggest wins this primary season, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama is picking up momentum and superdelegate support.

At least four superdelegates -- those party insiders who will likely be needed to push him over the top in his contest with rival Hillary Clinton -- jumped to the Obama camp Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Clinton lost one of her most important superdelegate supporters -- former presidential nominee George McGovern.

He said he told former President Bill Clinton he was switching his support to Obama. McGovern also urged Hillary Clinton in public to drop out of the race.

Meanwhile, Clinton's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination is on shaky ground as insiders say she won't be able to pick up enough delegates to win. She's also facing a money crunch.

On Wednesday she said she had loaned her campaign an additional US$6.4 million. That's on top of the US$5 million she gave herself in February. Clinton's fundraising problems couldn't come at a worse time. Her bid to become the Democratic presidential nominee took a near-knock-out blow Tuesday night after she lost a key southern state and barely eked out a victory in another key primary.

Obama, on the other hand, was enjoying a rare down day at his Chicago home after his strong victory in the North Carolina primary Tuesday. Although he lost to Clinton in Indiana, analysts say the two-point spread between the two did not give Clinton the ammunition she needed to make the case to party officials and superdelegates that she should continue the race in a forceful manner.

In total, Obama won at least 94 delegates and Clinton at least 79 in the two states combined.

Fourteen delegates, 12 from North Carolina and two from Indiana, are still to be awarded.

So far, Obama's delegate total has reached 1,840.5 to 1,688 for Clinton, according to The Associated Press.

To win the nomination, either candidate needs to win 2,025 delegates. There are only 217 delegates at stake in the final six contests: West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota.

"At this point, it really would be a huge travesty in many people's eyes for (Clinton) to be handed the election," Avis Jones Deweever of the National Council of Negro Women told CTV Newsnet's Mike Duffy Live Wednesday night.

She noted that in addition to leading in pledged delegates, Obama also leads in the popular vote and number of states won. The Clinton camp has suggested that Obama may not be electable, or at the very least is less electable than Clinton. Deweever said some black voters find the suggestion offensive.

"Some people are suggesting that (the question of electability) is mainly code for the race card -- saying 'Can you really trust a black man to win this in the fall -- maybe you can't,'" Davis noted.

Clinton stays in race

Despite the nearly-insurmountable odds against Clinton winning a majority of pledged delegates or the popular vote, Clinton told her remaining supporters she plans to stay in the race "until there's a nominee."

Obama is expected to split the six primaries with Clinton, say analysts.

Since a split would not give either candidate enough delegates for the nomination, it will be up to the party's superdelegates -- party officials who can vote for either candidate -- to decide the outcome.

Clinton currently has the support of 269 superdelegates and Obama has 255. There are about 220 superdelegates yet to align themselves with either candidate. About 50 others will be named at state party conventions and meetings during the spring.

Toby Condliffe, a superdelegate who lives in Toronto, said Tuesday's primary's will most likely prompt undecided superdelegates to break for Obama.

"I think Obama is clearly the winner, he is within 200 delegates of securing the nomination and at this point I think it's pretty close to game over (for Clinton)," Condliffe, who supports Obama, told CTV's Canada AM on Wednesday.

Obama's camp wants superdelegates to support the candidate with most pledged delegates while Clinton has called on superdelegates to exercise independent judgment.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has told the undecided superdelegates that they need to make up their minds by the end of June.

"I would like them to make up their mind sooner of course," said Condliffe.

Last night's loss and slim win forced the Clinton camp to cancel her morning television appearances Wednesday.

Clinton's campaign also said Wednesday that the New York Senator had to lend her campaign US$6.4 million over the past month.

Presidential historian and author Allan J. Lichtman said Wednesday that Clinton "can't escape the arithmetic."

"I don't think it's a matter of if, it is simply a matter of when Barack Obama wraps up this nomination," Lichtman told CTV's Canada AM on Wednesday.

With files from The Associated Press