If Hillary Clinton comes into the Democratic National Convention with less than the majority of the pledge delegate vote, but is still close, there is still a way in which she may yet finagle a squeaker majority during the convention itself: by seating the Florida and Michigan delegates whom where stripped by the DNC for those state's willful violation of committee rules.
Now, back during the original violations, all of the leading Dem candidates signed a pledge supporting the DNC sanctions:
Three of the major Democratic presidential candidates on Saturday pledged not to campaign in Florida, Michigan and other states trying to leapfrog the 2008 primary calendar, a move that solidified the importance of the opening contests of Iowa and New Hampshire.
Hours after Senator Barack Obama of Illinois and former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina agreed to sign a loyalty pledge put forward by party officials in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York followed suit. The decision seemed to dash any hopes of Mrs. Clinton relying on a strong showing in Florida as a springboard to the nomination.
As we know, one of them is trying to wiggle out of that pledge. And just might succeed.
The margins of "victories" in FL and MI were 105 Clinton / 67 Obama / 13 Edwards and 73 Clinton / 55 Uncommitted, respectively, giving Clinton a nice delegate bump in the Convention, should those delegates be seated.
And there is every reason to suspect those delegates will find a seat.
Stripped delegates have the opportunity to petetion a group within the DNC called the Credentials Committee to consider their case. And considering the committee's leadership makeup, I'd say advantage Hillary:
Every one of the chairmen of the Credentials Committee served under the Clinton Administration.
Now how much oomph these folks have over the committee at large, we can have fun debating. But one thing that can't be argued is the Clinton campaign's creepy certainty that they can get the nomination even without a popular vote. That's not even a 50% + 1 strategy. That's a keep-it-close and game the system strategy.
Unless Howard Dean can find an agreeable way to seat the delegates before the Convention, whether by establishing another caucus or re-apportionment of the delegates (or even just divvying them up fifty-fifty), the chances of Hillary gaining an extra sixty delegates in her favor "just because" suddenly becomes a little more real.