Clinton campaign meets brick wall.
DNC: Fla., Mich. Can't Be Fully Restoredhttp://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1809854,00.htmlWednesday, May. 28, 2008 By AP/NEDRA PICKLER
(WASHINGTON) — A Democratic Party rules committee has the authority to seat some delegates from Michigan and Florida but not fully restore the two states as Hillary Rodham Clinton wants, according to party lawyers.
Democratic National Committee rules require that the two states lose at least half of their convention delegates for holding elections too early, the party's legal experts wrote in a 38-page memo.
The memo was sent late Tuesday to the 30 members of the party's Rules and Bylaws Committee, which plans to meet Saturday at a Washington hotel. The committee is considering ways to include the two important general election battlegrounds at the nominating convention in August, and the staff analysis says seating half the delegates is "as far as it legally can" go.
Saturday's meeting is expected to draw a large crowd, with Clinton supporters among those encouraging a protest outside demanding that all the states' delegates be seated. Proponents of full reseating have mailed committee members Florida oranges and pairs of shoes to get their attention.
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http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1809854,00.html edited with the aid of Spellcheck this time