Politico: Clinton pushes new math - urging party officials to include MI and FL

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=C0413943-3048-5C12-001568029C5C6133

The campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) has begun urging party officials and news organizations to include the disputed Florida and Michigan delegations when figuring the number of delegates needed to win the nomination.

That unorthodox approach could put her in striking distance of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) over the next month.

Harold Ickes, Clinton’s chief delegate strategist, said in a telephone interview that the senator is likely to finish the primary and caucus season on June 3 “substantially less than 100 delegates behind” Obama’s total if those two states are included.

“We don’t believe that this party is going to go forward into a presidential race without seating both Florida and Michigan,” Ickes said.

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Working a second track, the Clinton forces are putting increased pressure on the superdelegates, the party insiders who get a vote on the nomination and are likely to be the decisive factor in the contest.

“As of midnight June 3rd, neither Obama nor Hillary will have enough delegates to clinch the nomination,” Ickes said. “Therefore, they’re going to have to persuade enough of the uncommitted, automatic delegates to come their way. And we think at the end of this process, we will be successful in persuading them that Hillary is, in fact, the stronger general election candidate.”