Clinton aides don't dispute report that they might go 'nuclear' over delegates [View All]

http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2008/05/clinton-aides-d.html?loc=interstitialskip

The liberal Huffington Post this morning has quite the eye-catcher of a top headline:

"Clinton camp considering nuclear option."

The story, by veteran political journalist Thomas Edsall, says that "Hillary Clinton's campaign has a secret weapon to build its delegate count." Huffington calls it the "nuclear option:"

Basically, Edsall writes, the Clinton campaign may try to use a meeting of the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee at the end of this month to "ram through a decision to seat the disputed 210-member Florida and 156-member Michigan delegations. Such a decision would give Clinton an estimated 55 or more delegates than Obama, according to Clinton campaign operatives. ... Using the Rules and Bylaws Committee to force the seating of two pro-Hillary delegations would provoke a massive outcry from Obama forces."

On a conference call with reporters that's happening right now, Clinton campaign spokesmen Howard Wolfson and Phil Singer both said they don't think it's a secret that their campaign wants the Florida and Michigan delegations to be seated. And while they didn't specifically address whether their campaign will employ Edsall's "nuclear option," Singer said that "there are currently challenges before the Rules and Bylaws Committee. Those will be adjudicated ... at that May 31 meeting. We await the outcome of that process."