May 9 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama picked up seven more superdelegates, including one who switched from Hillary Clinton, and has almost drawn even with his rival in endorsements from the party officials and lawmakers.

U.S. Representative Donald Payne of New Jersey announced he is changing his support from Clinton to Obama, and Representative Peter DeFazio of Oregon, where mail-in voting for the state's primary is under way, said he will back the Illinois senator as the party's nominee.

``I have reached the conclusion that Barack Obama can best bring about the change that our country so desperately wants and needs,'' Payne said in a statement.

Obama now barely trails Clinton in the race for superdelegates, who will end up deciding the Democratic nomination because neither candidate would be able to gain enough pledged delegates from primaries and caucuses to seal the nomination. Clinton is vowing to continue her campaign through the last contests on June 3 even as some Democrats have called for her to end her campaign.

``I'm gratified that we've got some superdelegates that are coming our way, and I think we've got a strong case to make that I will be a nominee that can pull the party together and take on John McCain in the fall,'' Obama said today in Woodburn, Oregon.

Delegate Counts

Clinton, a New York senator, has 275.5 to Obama's 271, according to lists provided by both campaigns and public announcements. Obama has gained three times as many superdelegates as Clinton since the March 4 round of election contests. The New York Times and ABC News, using different methods of counting, put Obama ahead.

Obama has the lead in pledged delegates awarded in those contests, 1,588 to Clinton's 1,425, according to an unofficial count by the Associated Press. The remaining six Democratic contests have a total of 217 pledged delegates at stake. A candidate needs 2,025 delegates to win the nomination. Those figures don't include Florida and Michigan, which were stripped of their votes by the national party organization for holding early primaries.

Superdelegates who announced their support for Obama today are: Representative Mazie Hirono of Hawaii; John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees; Ed Espinoza, a Democratic National Committee member and superdelegate from California; Wilber Lee Jeffcoat, the Democratic Party vice chairman in South Carolina; and Laurie Weahkee, a superdelegate from New Mexico.

Powerpoint

Clinton claimed Representative Chris Carney, a superdelegate from Pennsylvania, for her list, as well as Texas Representative Ciro Rodriguez.

To head off further defections and shore up her support, Clinton's campaign circulated a powerpoint presentation that shows her strength in Republican-leaning congressional districts.

The presentation notes that Democrats picked up 31 seats in the 2006 congressional elections, including seats in 20 districts that voted for President George W. Bush in 2004. Clinton has carried 16 of those districts to four for Obama, the presentation states.

``Hillary is the candidate that will win the tough districts,'' the presentation concludes.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Stern in Washington at Cstern3@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 9, 2008 20:29 EDT