White House hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are trading shots on how to resolve the dilemma of Michigan and Florida, barred from the Democratic Party's nominating race. -- PHOTO: AP

'It's a game of political chicken,' said Michigan University professor Mike Traugott, saying neither of the candidates wanted to be the first to give in.

Florida and Michigan were punished by the Democratic Party for violating its rules by holding their primaries too early. As a result, delegates from the two states will be absent from the party's August nominating contest in Denver.

But Mrs Clinton, who won both the primaries, has argued the Democratic voters of Florida and Michigan should not be disenfranchised.

'It's really important that we try to get as many people here to participate in this important primary election,' Mrs Clinton told reporters in Indiana on Thursday, a day after lobbying lawmakers in Michigan to organise a new primary.

'I do not see how two of our largest and most significant states can be disenfranchised and left out of the process of picking our nominee without raising serious questions about the legitimacy of that nominee.'

But Mr Obama, who is currently ahead in the all-important delegate stakes after a series of wins in the nation's primaries, appears to be playing for time as he seeks the Democratic nomination for the November presidential elections.

'Senator Clinton, I have to say on this, has been completely disingenuous,' Mr Obama told CNN late on Wednesday saying she had initially supported the party's ruling.

'Then as soon as she got into trouble politically and it looked like she would have no prospect of winning the nomination without having them count, suddenly she's extraordinarily concerned with the voters there.'

Obama's campaign spokesman Bill Burton said on Thursday: 'We support a fair solution that allows Michigan Democrats to participate at our national convention this summer, and we look forward to working with the Michigan Democratic Party and the DNC to achieve that goal.'

According to the latest estimates, the former first lady is trailing behind Mr Obama in the delegate stakes with 1,493 delegates to his 1,628. But both are still a long way from the 2,025 needed to win the nomination.

In normal times, Michigan would have 156 delegates and Florida some 210 at the convention.

Mrs Clinton is banking on repeating her January wins in the states' primaries to help narrow the gap with Mr Obama.

But Florida has already ruled out a new vote, and Michigan's state legislature also appeared unlikely to debate the option of holding a new primary before its Easter recess.

Asked if such a bill would be brought to the state senate, Senator Michelle McManus, chairwoman of the campaigns and election oversight committee, said: 'I don't foresee that happening.'

'We had a primary, and unfortunately the Democrats choose not to participate. The Republicans did, and John McCain has said he'll seat all the Michigan delegates,' she said.

'They can go have a caucus. This is their issue to resolve, it is not an issue for the Michigan legislature.' The stalemate has led supporters on both sides to try to find an acceptable compromise.

'It will get down to serious negotiations about this, and then it will turn on whether or not Hillary Clinton wants to make a concession,' said Prof Traugott.

'The real issue here is that Obama has a lead in the delegates that she has to cut into and overcome ... so the only opportunity she has is for a re-vote. He doesn't really have an incentive to go along with this.'

Obama supporter Chris Dodd suggested on Thursday splitting the Michigan delegates 50-50 as the only fair solution given that Illinois senator's name didn't even figure on the state's ballot paper.

While a Clinton backer proposed that half of the Florida delegates should be allocated based on results of the Jan 29 primary, and the other half on other criteria such as the national results.

Whatever the outcome, any solution would have to be approved by a special party appeals committee whose members will be chosen in a series of upcoming votes lasting until June. -- AFP