If the Democratic presidential nomination was decided on momentum, this would have been a very bad week for Barack Obama.

Jeremiah Wright. Jeremiah Wright. And then there was Jeremiah Wright.

And if that wasn’t enough, Hillary Clinton took on her archenemy, the Wicked Wizard of the Fox News Kingdom, Bill O’Reilly—and came out smelling like a rose.

The Obama campaign seemed to struggle for any good news. On Wednesday, campaign spokesman Bill Burton trotted out news of another superdelegate who has committed to Obama: California Rep. Lois Capps. But it didn’t seem that anyone was particularly surprised by the announcement.

Maybe that’s because she’s Burton’s mother-in-law.

Anyway, combined with a few other announcements of superdelegates here and there, including the surprising decision by former DNC chairman Joe Andrew to affiliate with Obama, he has cut Hillary Clinton’s lead among superdelegates by half in the last two months.

Andrew’s defection was particularly curious: He had endorsed Clinton early in the primary process—on the day she entered the race, in fact. Comments he made about his decision, both in an interview with the Associated Press and in a letter he wrote to fellow superdelegates, raised eyebrows among party faithful:

‘’I am convinced that the primary process has devolved to the point that it’s now bad for the Democratic Party,’’ Andrew said in the interview, in a noticeable departure from Democrats’ standard mantra about how “healthy” the ongoing battle is for the party.

In his letter, Andrew wrote that ‘’a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote to continue this process, and a vote to continue this process is a vote that assists (Republican) John McCain.’’

Superdelegates will have the popular vote, states won, delegate count, national polls and electability to consider as they ponder their decision between Clinton and Obama. They might also be encouraged to take into consideration the congressional endorsement tally, since both candidates serve in the Senate. On that count, Obama supporter Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) all but declared victory in that fight.

The question for the Obama campaign will be whether they can use the numbers to steady the ship as Hurricane Wright passes over, or if Wright, the political equivalent of the giant iceberg that felled the Titanic, has caused enough damage to breach the watertight compartments of the Boat of Barack.