Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak is floating an idea for how the Democrats can divvy up delegates to this summer’s national convention.

In a letter to Democratic National Committion chairman Howard Dean today, Stupak suggested awarding the 83 pledged delegates from the state to be decided upon at congressional district conventions next month based on the results of the disallowed primary election – with 47 going to Hillary Clinton and 36 who voted “uncommitted” going to Barack Obama.

Then, he suggested splitting the state’s remaining 73 delegates -- those which would be elected at a state central committee meeting in May as well as the state’s so-called superdelegates -- based on the percentage of the popular vote each gets nationwide after the last primary in June.

Although a caucus or primary typically decides how many of a state’s delegates will be awarded, the actual seating of those delegates is often done at state meetings or district conventions. An exception are the superdelegates, who are allowed to back whomever they like.

The question of what to do with Michigan’s delegates -- as well as those from Florida -- has been debated for weeks. Both lost their delegations to the national nominating convention this summer for scheduling early primaries in violation of party rules. But it was widely expected at that time that both delegates would be seated, coming from such large, significant electoral states.

That hasn’t happened, however, because Clinton won both -- Obama even took his name off the ballot in Michigan -- and yet trails Obama nationally. Calls for a do-over election in either state as a way to decide who gets the delegates, if anyone, have failed to date.



Stupak, a Menominee Democrat, supported John Edwards, who has since dropped out of the race and who, like Obama, took his name off the Michigan primary ballot in protest of the rules violation. Stupak, like Edwards, hasn’t thrown his support behind either of the candidates yet.



“I recognized that the DNC feels that both Michigan and Florida knowingly violated party rules in moving up their primary dates, but it seems unfair to punish so many for the actions of a select few,” wrote Stupak, who said he disagreed with the decision to move up the primary.