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Is this it for the continuously hard-nosed and feisty Democratic primary struggle? Has the esteemed DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee managed to accomplish what nearly five months of voting has not?

After a Friday filled with back door negotiations on the fate of Florida and Michigan that were ultimately unable to come up with a deal that would have canceled today’s near-brawl in a D.C. hotel, the DNC Rules Committee has emerged from a day of tense arguments and a mammoth “lunch break” with a solution on whether to seat the delegates from the contested primaries in FL and MI earlier this year.

The final word is that the full delegations from each state will be recognized at the Denver convention, but that each delegate will count as only a half-vote for their respective candidates.

Democratic party officials said a committee agreed Saturday on a compromise to seat Michigan and Florida delegates with half-votes after Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton failed to get enough support to force their positions through.

The deal was reached after committee members met privately for more than three hours, trying to hammer out a deal, and announced in a raucous hearing that reflected deep divisions within the party. The sticking point was Michigan, where Obama’s name was not on the ballot.

And the thorny issue of what to do with the “uncommitted” delegates coming out of the Michigan primary where only Hillary was on the ballot was resolved  by facing reality and simply counting those delegates for Obama, giving him a total (including the penalty) of 32 delegates in a state where not one person cast a vote for him. That’s the major sticking point for the Clinton campaign, but it was a move that had to be done to placate an Obama camp that already compromised on counting any of the FL and MI del’s.

The batch of Clinton supporters at the meeting, led by the indefatigable Harold Ickes, was not pleased with an outcome that essentially hammered the final nails in the coffin of Hillary’s run.

Clinton’s chief delegate hunter Harold Ickes angrily informed the committee that Clinton had instructed him to reserve her right to appeal the matter to the Democrats’ credentials committee, which could potentially drag the matter to the party’s convention in August.

“There’s been a lot of talk about party unity — let’s all come together, and put our arms around each other,” said Ickes, who is also a member of the Rules Committee that approved the deal. “I submit to you ladies and gentlemen, hijacking four delegates … is not a good way to start down the path of party unity.”

This was accompanied by raucous reactions from Hillary supporters in the crowd throughout the long conference, but especially after the final verdict was announced. Catcalls and obscene yells emanated from the seating area, with even more chaos outside, where dozens of pro-Hillary women had set up shop in protest. It was far from a sign of Democratic unity and brought to bear the very real possibility that the Clinton campaign will cave to Ickes, Hillary and her rabid fan base and push for all of the delegates during the summer and into the convention.

An instant press email after the committee vote cam back said as much, with Ickes and Tina Flournoy expressing displeasure at the outcome - especially over Michigan - and threatening further action.

Today’s results are a victory for the people of Florida who will have a voice in selecting our Party’s nominee and will see its delegates seated at our party’s convention.  The decision by the Rules and Bylaws Committee honors the votes that were cast by the people of Florida and allocates the delegates accordingly.

We strongly object to the Committee’s decision to undercut its own rules in seating Michigan’s delegates without reflecting the votes of the people of Michigan.

The Committee awarded to Senator Obama not only the delegates won by Uncommitted, but four of the delegates won by Senator Clinton. This decision violates the bedrock principles of our democracy and our Party.

We reserve the right to challenge this decision before the Credentials Committee and appeal for a fair allocation of Michigan’s delegates that actually reflect the votes as they were cast.

Clinton supporter and committee member Alice Huffman was more gracious in accepting what the decision means.

“What matters is unity… When we leave here, we will leave here more united than we came.”

But is there a huge silver lining for HRC in the delegate ruling? The decision to seat the Florida and Michigan delegates legitimizes the popular vote from both states, where Hillary coasted to huge margins of victory in primaries with record turnout. Even though Clinton insiders admit that only delegates matter to the nomination, the public spin has been that Hillary is deadlocked with Obama in the popular vote and that should be enough to convince superdelegates and poachable pledged del’s that HRC is the real leader in the Dem marathon. Accepting the votes from these two states instantly puts Hillary in great position in the popular race and could boost her shaky argument that she is the frontrunner.

Will it work in nabbing superdel’s? Probably not. But it gives Hillary one more shred of rationale to continue her campaign. Next stop: November battlegrounds?

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Filed under: Michigan, Florida, 2008, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, The Blog