Will Florida's Democratic Delegates Be Seated

WASHINGTON (CBS4) ― The DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee meets Saturday in Washington to make a final determination on Florida and Michigan, which have collectively 368 convention delegates. In a memo by party lawyers earlier this week it was determined that full restoration of the delegates, as sought by Sen. Hillary Clinton, would violate DNC rules.

In a Marriott hotel on the outskirts of Washington, DC, the Democratic Party will unravel the numbing controversy the party had created for itself by disenfranchising the voters of Florida and Michigan. The two have been penalised by the Democratic Party for holding their primaries too early, and both are battlefield states - the fourth and eighth largest.

Sen. Clinton would hope that Democratic officials override party rules and recognize all delegates selected in the Florida and Michigan primaries, which would go in her favor.

But that could be considered unfair to Sen. Obama, who, in most states where he actively campaigned, he was able to narrow a big initial gap between him and Sen. Clinton considerably. He did not campaign in either of the penalised states, and in Michigan he took his name off the ballot.

Michigan remains a problem. Sen. Obama recorded no votes at all in the state, though "uncommitted" took 238,000 votes compared with Sen. Clinton's 328,000. Many, perhaps most, of those uncommitted voters were expressing a preference for Sen. Obama, though many pro-Obama voters might have thought it a waste of time voting at all. The question arises how many delegates should he be awarded, and what number of popular votes should he be given from the state.

Political experts say that if Sen. Clinton can convince the committee to admit the Florida and Michigan voters, then she will not pick up enough delegates to overtake Sen. Obama's lead in the delegate count (in which he is currently about 160 ahead). But the inclusion of the two states would allow her to add the votes cast there to her popular-vote total.

Some political experts then explain that if she scores a big victory in Hispanic-dominated Puerto Rico, which holds its primary on Sunday, she might be able to claim that she has, overall, won more of the popular vote than Sen. Obama. In such a scenario, she could theoretically be able to talk enough superdelegates around to win her the nomination. However, the superdelegates have been breaking overwhelmingly for Mr Obama in recent weeks.

If the committee comes up with a plan, either candidate could appeal against it, right the way to the floor of the convention in Denver at the end of August.

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