To Claim Popular Vote, Clinton Is Seeking Wins in Last 3 Primaries

A decision about the fate of delegates from Michigan and Florida could come Saturday, when the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee is scheduled to meet. If either side is dissatisfied with the outcome, the matter will move on to another subcommittee and could take until the end of June to resolve. The final primaries of the year, in Montana and South Dakota, will be held on June 3.

Clinton has stated repeatedly that she will not drop out unless Obama picks up enough delegates to become the nominee. In her calculus involving the results of Florida and Michigan, that figure is 2,210, rather than the 2,026 number the Obama campaign is using.

The Clinton campaign has adopted an unyielding public stance heading into the Rules and Bylaws Committee's meeting, insisting that all delegates from Michigan and Florida be seated, with full voting rights, and that the results be strictly allocated on the basis of the primary results and by DNC rules. By their calculations, such a resolution would give her a net gain of 111 pledged delegates.

Obama leads by about 190 delegates, so even the most favorable outcome would still leave Clinton well short of her rival. Under more likely resolutions, her net gain would be 56 delegates or in the neighborhood of 30 delegates. The 30-member rules committee includes 13 members who have endorsed Clinton and eight who have endorsed Obama. While those backing Clinton are inclined to support her position on Michigan and Florida, they are not prepared to march in lockstep with the campaign.

Don Fowler, a former DNC chair, said: "I would be inclined to support what the campaign wanted, but there are limitations." Fowler disagreed with the rules committee's decision to bar the two delegations from being seated at the convention, but said, "Even I would assert that there has to be some kind of retribution, some kind of sanction."

Clinton also appears to have hurt her case by comparing the cause of seating the delegations with the abolition of slavery and the disputed election in Zimbabwe (not to mention her invocation, on Friday, of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy to explain why she is still in the race). Knowledgeable Democrats said those comments have played poorly with the very people she needs most right now, superdelegates and members of the rules committee.

James Roosevelt Jr., who is co-chair of the rules committee, said he hopes the panel will agree on a resolution at its meeting next weekend. If Clinton is dissatisfied, her recourse would be take her fight to the Credentials Committee, which takes possession of the issue on June 29.

Even Clinton advisers doubt the fight will go that long but do not rule it out. "If the committee comes up with a solution that doesn't honor the results of the primaries, there is a strong chance it goes to Credentials," said one top adviser, who requested anonymity to speak candidly.