Clinton and Obama disagree on Florida, Michigan revote

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama sharply disagreed on disputed contests in Florida and Michigan on Wednesday, as Florida Democratic officials finished a proposal for a new mail-in presidential primary.

Clinton, who won unsanctioned contests in both states, said the results should be honored or new votes held. Obama said he abided by party rules in skipping the two contests and questioned Clinton's call now for counting them.

The two states were stripped of their delegates in a dispute with the national party, but held the contests won by Clinton anyway even though no candidates campaigned there and Obama was not even on the ballot in Michigan.

"The Clinton campaign seems to want to make up rules as they go along on this issue," Obama said. He said he would work with the national party to find a solution.

A resolution of the dispute has become vital as the two Democratic presidential contenders scratch for every available delegate in their tight battle for the right to face Republican John McCain in November's election.

Florida Senate Democratic leader Steve Geller said in Tallahassee the mail-in primary would replace the state's disputed January 29 vote, and all votes would be counted and verified by June 3.

The plan, pushed by Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson but opposed by the state's Democratic U.S. House members, calls for sending mail-in ballots to all of the state's more than 4 million registered Democrats.

The proposal will be officially released on Thursday. It will go to the state party's executive committee on April 12, and would then go to the Democratic National Committee's rules and bylaws panel for approval.

"In my view, at this late hour, mail-in balloting would be the most practical and fair way to let Florida voters have a full say in the selection of their Democratic nominee," Nelson said in a statement.

'DEEP CONCERNS'

The state's U.S. House members objected to the proposal, and Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said there were "real deep concerns" about the reliability and security of a mail-in vote.

"These are very complicated elections to put on," Plouffe told reporters. "In the state of Oregon which is kind of the standard for this, it took well over 10 years to get comfortable doing this statewide."

Obama, an Illinois senator, said he would work with the Democratic National Committee to find a way for the two states to be represented at the convention. Plouffe said the calls for a revote in the two states "seem to have become more of a Clinton production."

Obama leads Clinton in pledged delegates won in state nominating contests, but both are almost certain to finish short of the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the nomination.

That means finding an eventual winner could hinge on a resolution of the Florida and Michigan dispute, and on the decisions of nearly 800 superdelegates -- party officials and insiders who are free to back any candidate.

"In my view there are two options: Honor the results or hold new primary elections," Clinton, a New York senator, said in Washington.

"I don't see any other solutions that are fair and honor the commitment that 2-1/2 million voters made in the Democratic primaries in those two states," she said.

Plouffe, however, questioned Clinton's sincerity. "Now when they believe it serves their political interests, they're trying to change the rules and say these elections should count for something," he said.

(Editing by Eric Beech)

(For more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)