Clinton forces push Michigan, Florida delegate claims, runup to May 31 showdown.

WASHINGTON–On a Thursday conference call, Clinton campaign senior strategist Harold Ickes and top spokesman Howard Wolfson are pushing the seating of the disputed Michigan and Florida delegations at the Denver convention–the twine of a lifeline that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has to continue in the presidential contest.

Negotiations are ongoing between the Obama and Clinton camps and DNC rules and by-laws committee chairman Alexis Herman and James Roosevelt. “Our view is,” said Ickes, is for “all delegates seated.” That is, in a way that can help keep Clinton’s tiny pathway alive.

For those not keeping up on this…the Democratic National Committee stripped Michigan and Florida of their delegates because the states jumped their primaries ahead to January. Even though these contests were not supposed to “count,” a record number of people did show up to vote. In Michigan–where Democrats moved up the primary–Obama took his name off the ballot in order to appease the official early states guarding their franchises– New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada. The story is different in Florida. There, the Republicans switch to an early date. In Michigan, Clinton won most of the votes; in Florida, where all the names stayed on the ballot, Clinton won. The DNC has a May 31 R & B meeting to sort this out. There is an appeal: to the creditionals committee at the Denver convention, which could trigger a floor fight.