Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, wants super delegates to endorse either Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. Hillary Clinton by July 1.

"Somebody's going to lose this race with 49.8 percent of the vote, and that person has got to pull their supporters in behind the nominee,” Dean said on CBS’s “Early Show.” “That’s our obligation. Because in the end this is not about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, it’s about our country."

On Thursday night, the Androscoggin Democratic Committee rejected a resolution calling for Maine's superdelegates to endorse Obama or Clinton in proportion to the results of Maine's Democratic caucuses (a 60-40 split for Obama).

Sam Spencer, a super delegate and one of Maine's two DNC members, told those in attendance that it would be best to wait until the primary season ended and ran through options of what Maine's nine superdelegates could do.

In short, they can all vote for Obama because he won the state; vote in proportion to the Maine caucus results, vote with the national pledged delegates, vote for the winner of the national popular vote, or vote present on the first ballot (which could throw the convention into a tizzy).

After Spencer spoke, the committee rejected the resolution.

E-mail this entry to a friend