Florida, Michigan plea for delegate re-do

WASHINGTON, March 6 (UPI) -- Florida and Michigan leaders are hoping for a do-over so their delegates to the Democratic national convention will count in the presidential nominee tally.

The national party stripped the states of their delegates as punishment for moving up their primaries.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican, and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, jointly asked the Democratic National Committee to seat their states' delegations. To do otherwise, they said in a statement, would silence "the voices of 5,163,271 Americans" primary voters.

"It is intolerable that the national political parties have denied the citizens of Michigan and Florida their votes and voices at their respective national conventions," they wrote.

Discussions about the delegates come as Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., scrap for every available delegate, CNN reported Thursday.

Howard Dean, Democratic National Committee chairman, said the states can devise another plan to chose delegates or appeal to the party's credentials committee when the convention opens in August.

"Out of respect for the presidential campaigns and the states that did not violate party rules, we are not going to change the rules in the middle of the game," Dean said in a written statement.