CNN:
Is he or isn’t he? The New York Times reported Thursday night that Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights movement veteran and Democratic congressional leader who endorsed Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid last year, was switching his superdelegate vote to Barack Obama.
Within hours, according to the Washington Post, his spokeswoman Brenda Jones said the story — and an earlier Associated Press report that the Georgia congressman was considering the move — had been “observations, not statements of preference.”
The New York Times had also reported that Lewis had not yet endorsed Obama, and would make a decision on that within a few days.
As of early Friday, there had been no comment from the congressman himself on either report.
“In recent days, there is a sense of movement and a sense of spirit,” Lewis said in the Times story, which was published on the paper’s Web site Thursday night. “Something is happening in America, and people are prepared and ready to make that great leap.”
The Times also quoted Lewis as saying that he hoped to prevent a potentially bloody battle over the nomination, and that if the two sides were seeking “a mediator, a negotiator or a peacemaker, I’d be happy to step in…I don’t want to see Mrs. Clinton damaged or Mr. Obama damaged.”