Rep. John Lewis refused to say Saturday if he plans to vote for Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's national convention in August.

But while Lewis would not address the issue, it was a dominant theme all around him.

Lewis (D-Ga.) was in Atlanta for a City Hall news conference about the proposed Ralph David Abernathy Center for Civil Rights History and Wax Museum. Lewis, himself an icon of the civil rights movement, said he was there only to remember his friend, the late Rev. Abernathy.

"I'm not going to make any political statements today," Lewis said in response to questions.

The congressman caused an uproar in Democratic presidential politics on Thursday when he apparently told a New York Times reporter that he would cast his ballot at the convention for Obama, rather than Hillary Clinton, whom he previously had endorsed.

On Friday, Lewis' office told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the Times story was "inaccurate" but refused to give any other details and has not responded to requests for clarification.

Jeff Zeleny, the Times reporter who wrote the original story, told the AJC on Friday that Lewis was clear in his support for Obama.

Lewis is one of 13 so-called superdelegates from Georgia, party leaders and elected officials who can cast a delegate's ballot at the national convention for any candidate, regardless of the outcome of the vote in his or her state or district.

Georgia, and the voters in Lewis' 5th District, overwhelmingly backed Obama in the Feb. 5 Democratic presidential primary.

The issue is important because the race between Obama and Clinton is exceedingly close, and each delegate's vote could be crucial. But it's also important because Lewis is one of the most sought-after endorsements in Congress due to his legacy as a leader of the civil rights movement and his decades of work in Congress.

Before the news conference began, Dwanda Farmer, 41, a business consultant who lives in Mechanicsville, in Lewis' 5th District, approached a reporter and said Lewis has a choice to make.

"We want to tell Mr. Lewis the people of the 5th District have spoken overwhelmingly to support Mr. Obama," said Farmer, who was at the news conference in her role as a board member of the Abernathy Foundation, but wore an Obama button on her tan business suit.

"And while we don't begrudge his initial endorsement of Senator Clinton, we expect that he will follow our lead or we will be forced to send a voice to Congress who will. With all due respect."

In his invocation to begin the news conference, the Rev. Toussaint King Hill Jr., pastor at Abernathy's former church, West Hunter Street Baptist, praised the fact that a black man —- Obama —- is on the cusp of becoming president.

Juanita Abernathy, widow of the late Ralph David Abernathy, praised Obama repeatedly in her remarks.

"We need someone to articulate our needs, and I thank you for supporting Barack Obama," she said to the audience, Lewis sitting behind her on the stage.

Later, when his turn came to speak, Lewis presented Juanita Abernathy with a huge reproduction of a photograph of a young Lewis, sitting at a table in the Abernathy family's dining room in 1961. With him were Ralph David Abernathy and Martin Luther King Jr.

Speaking of the day he first met King and Abernathy, Lewis nearly broke down into tears.

"It's a wonderful day," Lewis said. "We're more than lucky. We're blessed."