WASHINGTON — What had been a daily trickle of new endorsements of Barack Obama has become a steady daily stream with yesterday's announcements of support from the United Steelworkers union, the president of the Communications Workers of America and two influential California congressmen.

Although Hillary Rodham Clinton's 41 percentage-point victory in Tuesday's West Virginia presidential primary has kept her campaign alive, the new endorsements of Obama provide growing evidence that many Democrats want to bring the race to a conclusion as soon as possible.

"I would describe it as relentless," said Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, an activist for the Obama campaign. "It would not surprise me if we had a numerical basis to declare victory certainly well before the 3rd of June."

Obama has 1,895 delegates, which is 131 shy of the 2,026 needed for the nomination, according to the latest count by the Associated Press. Clinton has 1,718, which is 308 delegates short.

Clinton, for her part, has said she intends to remain in the race through the last two primaries, in Montana and South Dakota on June 3.

The steelworkers' union, which originally endorsed former North Carolina senator John Edwards, yesterday said its executive board voted unanimously in agreement with Edwards, who announced his support for Obama on Wednesday.

NARAL Pro Choice America, a leading abortion rights group, also endorsed Obama on Wednesday despite its longstanding ties to Clinton.

Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America, said his union will not make an endorsement until late June, but he decided not to wait because he also is a superdelegate and member of the Democratic National Committee.

"I don't think it's good for the Democratic Party to have this go on and on," Cohen said in an interview.

Reps. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also endorsed Obama yesterday.

"I wanted to make sure that Senator Clinton had every opportunity to bring her campaign to the American people," Waxman said in a statement. "It is now clear, however, that the Democratic Party is nearing a broad consensus on our nominee."