Democrats wrestle with Florida-Michigan puzzle

After Obama trounced the former first lady in Wyoming’s caucuses, party grandees sparred over whether to bring the pariah states of Florida and Michigan in from the cold to help break through the nomination deadlock.

Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman Howard Dean was under renewed pressure to drop sanctions against the states -- crucial battlegrounds of the general election -- after they had advanced their primaries into January. Speaking on ABC television, Dean said proposals included a postal ballot or to split the states delegations 50-50 between Obama and Clinton, who won the non-binding contests and is adamant their representatives should be seated. But the DNC chairman stressed his over-arching preference to avoid all-out conflict at a "brokered convention" when the Democrats gather in Denver in August. "If we have to sit the two candidates down together or their campaigns down together and try to figure out how to make peace and have a convention that’s going to work, then that’s fine," Dean said.

Florida Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Clinton backer, underlined the stakes for a state that so controversially decided the 2000 election. "The wounds are very raw here still from the recount fiasco in 2000," she said on Fox News Sunday. "We have to make sure that however our delegation gets seated, that it is seated reflecting votes cast by voters in Florida", added she.

Even with Florida and Michigan back in play, neither Democratic contender can reach the winning line of 2,025 delegates after a long and bruising battle that heads next to Tuesdays primary in Mississippi. But Clinton, who is trailing Obama in the delegate count, sees them as crucial tests of the popular will that could help sway enough party luminaries known as "superdelegates" to back her for the nomination.

The Washington Post said many of the 80 uncommitted superdelegates, who are free to choose either candidate, were reluctant to override the clear will of Democratic voters. But after Clintons stunning victories in three states including Ohio and Texas last week, those superdelegates were set to remain on the fence until Puerto Rico rounds off the primary race in June, the newspaper said. "Youre going to see a lot of delegates remaining uncommitted," Representative Mike Doyle, who has not endorsed either candidate, was quoted as saying. "There’s a sense that this is going to Denver not resolved," he said.

By then, Republican heir John McCain will have had nearly six months to outline his vision for the country and to roam widely to burnish his national-security credentials, having clinched his party’s nod last week. The Arizona senator is expected to visit Israel around March 20 as part of a congressional delegation for talks with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, an Israeli official said on Sunday. "Were going to beat John McCain," Dean said. "He’s totally unsuited at this particular time to be president. Hes wrong on the war in Iraq, wrong on the economy, wrong on healthcare. "But the only thing that can beat us is that were divided. Its not just about Florida and Michigan. Its about treating everybody fairly within the rules," he said.

In Wyoming, the sparsely populated Republican fiefdom of Vice President Dick Cheney, Obama won 61 percent of the vote in Saturdays caucuses to 38 percent for Clinton. That left the Illinois senator with seven of the 12 pledged delegates at stake, according to estimates. RealClearPolitics.com said Obama now has 1,588 delegates in total, including superdelegates, compared to Clintons 1,465. Obama was also favored to win Mississippi, with its heavy African-American vote, after which the race heads to the biggest prize left -- Pennsylvania on April 22.

The Wyoming result was a morale-booster for Obama after a difficult week that saw a foreign policy aide resign for calling Clinton a "monster" in a newspaper interview.