Sen. Hillary Clinton got yet another setback when the New York Governor Elliot Spitzer, who was one of her biggest supporters, resigned on Wednesday, when he was exposed as a client of a prostitution ring – the Emperor’s Club V.I.P. (View Ashley Alexandra Dupre Pictures)

Spitzer, who was under severe pressure to quit, finally decided to step down in the wake of the recent unpleasant developments. His resignation is effective from Monday, and Lt Gov David A Paterson will be sworn to succeed him.

Once considered presidential material and known as ''Mr Clean,'' Spitzer announced that he was resigning for failing to live up to the standards expected of a leading politician. He also announced that he would quit politics as well.

Speaking of Spitzer’s stepping down, Clinton said, "I'm deeply saddened by this turn of events and my thoughts are with Governor Spitzer's family during this painful time." She went on to say that she looks forward to working with Spitzer's replacement, David Paterson.

Meanwhile, the high-priced prostitute that Spitzer had hired paying $4300 on Feb. 13 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington has been identified as Ashley Alexandra Dupre, a 22-year-old lulu from Manhattan.

The setback that Sen. Hillary Clinton has got with Spitzer’s resignation is that Spitzer was ex officio superdelegate to the Democratic nominating convention, because he was governor of New York State.

According to reports from Democratic National Committee, Spitzer lost his superdelegate status, along with his pledged vote for Clinton when he resigned. Spitzer's successor, David Paterson, already had superdelegate status as lieutenant governor and has already pledged to Senator Clinton.

So, with Spitzer’s resignation, the total number of super delegates has drops to 795. Hence, Clinton's super delegate margin over Sen. Barack Obama has shrunk by one. This is certainly bad news for presidential hopeful Clinton, who is lagging behind in democratic delegate count.

According to the latest Democratic Delegate Count, Clinton has 247 Super Delegates while Obama has 211. Obama has 1403 Pledged Delegates, while Clinton has 1240. On the whole, Obama leads with 1614 delegates (1403 pledged delegates + 211 Super Delegates), while Clinton has 1487 delegates (1240 Pledged Delegates + 247 Super Delegates).