Obama wants Michigan, Florida restored in full

Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama, now safely secure in the party nomination, called Sunday for the renegade states of Michigan and Florida to be restored with full voting power.
His call represents an olive branch to Democratic officials and voters in two states that will be vital players in November's presidential election.
But it could also open Obama to charges of opportunism after his campaign had fought hard to punish the states and so curtail Hillary Clinton's dogged challenge for the Democratic nomination.
Obama said that despite a hard-fought compromise struck in late May, the two states' delegates should enjoy full participation in the late-August Democratic convention for the sake of party unity.
Obama said he had supported the Democratic Party's efforts to enforce its primary calendar.
"As we prepare to come together in Denver, however, we must be -- and will be -- united in our determination to change the course of our nation," Obama wrote in a letter to the party's credentials committee.
"Accordingly, I ask that the credentials committee... pass a resolution that would entitle each delegate from Florida and Michigan to cast a full vote."
The credentials committee will meet on August 24 to decide the final slate of delegates to the Democratic convention, which starts the next day in Denver.
Under the May compromise by the party's rules and bylaws committee, delegates from Michigan and Florida were restored to the presidential convention, but with their voting power halved.
The deal scuppered Hillary Clinton's hopes of making a significant dent in Obama's delegate lead, and the former first lady backed out of the race on June 7, after the final primaries.
HIllary won both unofficial contests, though neither candidate campaigned in Florida, and Obama was not on the ballot on Michigan.
Hillary meanwhile welcomed Obama's intervention with the credentials committee, whose co-chairs pledged Sunday to deliver "a fair process and a unified Democratic Party so that we can win in November."