I had a conversation with Alabama Democratic Party Chairman Joe Turnham earlier this week regarding the furor over Jeremiah Wright and how it’s impacting things for Democrats behind the scenes.

In short, his comments seemed to confirm what outside observers have suspected: Whatever the numerical realities are headed into the Denver convention in August—whether it is states won, delegates won, popular votes or even the electoral count based on states won—both the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama campaigns are preparing their best arguments for national electability.

Turnham is one of many superdelegates expecting to hear strong arguments on this front, he said. And his decision will hinge on them.

“I want someone who can win in November,” he said.

Turnham said he expects this to be a common theme among superdelegates from 13 surrounding states as they convene in Mobile, Ala., for a regional convention June 19-21. The so-called “Southern Caucus,” one of four such DNC-sanctioned regional events, is expected to draw about 100 superdelegates, Turnham said. The Birmingham News notes that party leaders expect the event to draw national media coverage—and possibly even visits from the candidates themselves—because it “could be the last major gathering of superdelegates prior to the party’s national convention.”

As for DNC Chairman Howard Dean’s preference that superdelegates declare their choices as soon as the primary season ends in June, Turnham said he won’t be rushed, saying he will commit his support as DNC rules and its calendar provide.

Turnham told me he is “officially uncommitted” as to whom he will support for the Democratic presidential nomination.

“Are you ‘unofficially committed?’” I asked.

“No comment,” he said.

He also tipped me to a web site called 270towin.com, an Electoral College primer with an interactive map that allows users to explore various potential outcomes in the states and how those outcomes would affect the distribution of electoral votes. Users choose a starting point, whether from among preset maps (options include 2008 swing states, 2004 very close states and 2004 competitive states) or a blank slate. Individual state information is available below the map, so users can consider states’ recent electoral history as they play out their strategies. Users then click on individual states to turn them red or blue; the electoral count updates accordingly.

I spoke with the founder of 270towin.com this week, and I’ll share my interview with him here in coming days. But Turnham’s mention of the site is notable in itself: It indicates that Turnham and his fellow undeclared superdelegates are likely among the users, and they may be basing their decisions—and the fate of the Democratic presidential nomination—on the strategies they play out on that map. 

I’ve already received some calls and e-mails about my picture in the Opelika-Auburn News this morning.

I have only two things to say about it: One, I had no idea it was coming; two, the feeling I got when I saw it is why I went into print instead of broadcast journalism.

Jeepers.