Michigan Democrats have proposed a plan to divide the state's delegates between presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in a bid to have their votes counted at the party's national convention in August.

The state party's executive committee would give Clinton 69 delegates and Obama 59. It will ask the Democratic National Committee to approve the plan at its May 31 meeting, said Elizabeth Kerr, state party spokeswoman.

While Michigan's plan would give Clinton 10 more delegates than Obama, that would not be enough to overcome Obama's lead in the delegate count. Clinton trails Obama by about 150 delegates, with only six more primaries to go through June 3.

Clinton lobbied for the result to be counted as 73 delegates for her and 55 for Obama, and Obama argued the delegates should be divided equally. The state party proposes splitting the difference between the two, Kerr said yesterday.

Clinton officials oppose the new plan. "This proposal does not honor the 600,000 votes that were cast in Michigan's January primary," Clinton spokesman Isaac Baker said. "Those votes must be counted."

Continue to talk

"It is clear results in January won't be used to allocate delegates, and we agree with that," Bill Burton said. "We have been talking with Michigan leaders about this proposal and continue to do so."

The national party stripped Michigan of its delegates after the state moved its primary to Jan. 15, earlier than rules allowed. Florida also was penalized for moving its primary to Jan. 29.

After the penalties were issued, the candidates agreed not to campaign in Michigan and Florida. Clinton, a New York senator, won Michigan's primary with 55 percent of the vote. Sen. Obama of Illinois pulled his name off the ballot.

Clinton has argued that the original January votes in Michigan and Florida should count.

In Florida yesterday, the state's Democratic congressional delegation called on the national party to seat that state's delegation based on its January primary, the Associated Press reported. Clinton won the primary, 50 percent to Obama's 33 percent.

'More willing'

State party spokesman Mark Bubriski said Florida officials had been talking with the Clinton and Obama campaigns about recognizing all, or part, of the state's delegates.

"I think they are more and more willing to really consider seating Florida's delegates, if at half or full strength," he said.

State Democratic officials said they hoped to clear up the matter by the end of the month.