Obama gets superdelegate boost in Wis.

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama picked up the support of Rep. Steve Kagen and the likely backing of Sen. Russ Feingold on Thursday, following the presidential candidate’s victory in Wisconsin earlier this week.

Kagen, a freshman Democrat from northeast Wisconsin, followed through on his promise to back the candidate who won the most votes in his congressional district. Feingold, meanwhile, said he was ‘‘inclined’’ to support Obama because of the state primary results but withheld a final endorsement.

Obama carried Wisconsin over Hillary Rodham Clinton by 17 percentage points.

‘‘As a strong believer in representative government, it is my responsibility to support the winner of Wisconsin’s 8th district, and that candidate is Senator Barack Obama,’’ Kagen said in a written statement.

Obama has inspired a new generation of voters and ‘‘earned my strongest support,’’ he said.

While Feingold declined to say definitively that he would support Obama, he seemed to be moving in that direction.

‘‘It obviously was a very impressive win for Senator Obama to win all of the congressional districts, and 62 out of 72 counties,’’ Feingold said in a telephone interview. ‘‘It’s quite a victory, and very helpful to him and his drive to the nomination.’’

Wisconsin has 92 delegate votes at the Democratic National Convention. Seventy-four will be allocated based on the results of Tuesday’s primary.

Feingold, a Democrat with a large following among liberal voters, can back any candidate he chooses as one of Wisconsin’s 18 superdelegates to the Democratic National Convention. Kagen is also a superdelegate.

Their two votes would give Obama eight to Clinton’s two (assuming Feingold goes with Obama). Six superdelegates are undecided or not saying who they back, and two more will be named at the convention.

‘‘As I’ve said, who won the state and how significantly they won it is a very important factor, and it does cause me to be inclined to support him,’’ Feingold said of Obama.

The senator said he’ll also consider ‘‘my general opinions about whether somebody is the right person to run for president, whether the person can win. But the largest thought on my mind is what the people of the state indicated.’’

Feingold, who weighed a presidential run himself before deciding against it in late 2006, called Obama a great candidate.

‘‘He’s just amazing,’’ he said. ‘‘I’m very impressed with his ability to handle defeats as well as victories. Very few errors on the part of his campaign. Just overall, a really good performance. It’s not going to be easy to be beat John McCain, so that’s critical.’’

Feingold and McCain have had a long friendship as a result of their work together on campaign finance reform.

However, Feingold also praised Clinton for ‘‘hanging in there’’ after losing her front-runner status. She might surprise people on March 4, when Texas and Ohio hold their primaries, he said.

‘‘She’s a very strong person as well, and certainly qualified to be president,’’ Feingold said. ‘‘Most Democrats feel very good about these two candidates.’’