moved closer to clinching the Democratic presidential nomination after the party moved to settle a months-long quarrel over delegates from and .

A party committee voted yesterday to seat delegations from the two states at the nominating convention in August, though with only a half-vote for each delegate. The deal, reached after a sometimes-raucous daylong meeting, gives Clinton a net gain of 24 pledged delegates, leaving her 171.5 behind Obama. He needs fewer than 70 to win the nomination to run against Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.

``The numbers tell all: Clinton cannot win the nomination,'' said Mark Rozell, a professor of public policy at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia. ``All she can do at this point is finish out the final contests and be in position for a future run should Obama lose in November.''

Democrats are counting on the compromise -- which came after hours of private deliberations among panel members -- to help the party rally around a single candidate and avoid alienating voters in the two crucial states.

That unity may prove elusive. While Clinton's backers say they were satisfied with the Florida accord, they raised the prospect of a floor fight at the convention over the way the Michigan dispute was resolved, saying Obama was awarded too many delegates.

`Strongly' Objects

Harold Ickes, a Clinton adviser, said he ``strongly'' objects to the Michigan plan, saying it would cost her four delegates. He said Clinton reserved the right to appeal the decision to another committee, a warning that was met with both cheers and catcalls from the hundreds of activists at the meeting.

``Hijacking four delegates, notwithstanding the flawed aspect of this, is not a good way to start down the path of party unity,'' Ickes told the panel in Washington.

The party's rules and bylaws committee voted 27-0 to seat Florida's delegation and give Clinton 52.5 delegates; Obama would get 33.5. The panel voted 19-8 to similarly seat the Michigan delegation, giving Clinton 34.5 delegate votes and Obama 29.5. Superdelegates -- the lawmakers and party officials who get an automatic vote at the convention and who are likely to decide the nomination -- will also get only half-votes.

Both states last year were stripped of all their delegates for violating party rules and moving up the dates of their primaries. Neither of the contests were contested.

`Fair' Decision

Obama, 46, applauded yesterday's votes.

He said Clinton, 60, would gain a ``substantial'' number of delegates and that ``many members of the Florida and Michigan delegations feel satisfied that the decision was fair.'' He won't try to dissuade the Clinton campaign from contesting the decision, he told reporters in Aberdeen, South Dakota, where he was campaigning yesterday.

``I trust they will do the right thing'' and ``will be motivated by an interest in bringing the party together,'' he said.

Donna Brazile, a committee member who was Vice President Al Gore's campaign manager in 2000, said Obama actually conceded delegates in Michigan. ``He had the vote for a 50-50 split,'' she said.

With the addition of the Michigan and Florida contingents, 2,118 delegates are needed to secure the nomination. Before yesterday, Obama had 1,984.5 delegates and Clinton 1,784.5, according to a tally of pledged delegates and campaign lists of superdelegate endorsements.

Delegate Math

The decision gives the Illinois senator a total of at least 2050.5 delegates and Clinton, a New York senator, at least 1,879, including the half-votes for each of the states' committed superdelegates. Only 86 pledged delegates remain to be awarded, with 55 at stake in today's Puerto Rico primary and another 31 total in the June 3 Montana and South Dakota primaries, the last of the campaign, which began in January.

Polls show Clinton is favored to win Puerto Rico and Obama is ahead by more than 10 points in both South Dakota and Montana. Given the Democrats' system of allocating delegates proportionately, Obama may be close to securing the delegates needed for the nomination after the three primaries, with the possibility that some of the more than 180 remaining uncommitted superdelegates may back him in the next week.

States Penalized

After the Democratic National Committee removed all the delegates from Florida and Michigan for ignoring the party's primary schedule, Obama, Clinton and the other Democratic candidates agreed to abide by the penalty. None of the contenders campaigned in Michigan and Florida, and Obama, along with several other candidates, withdrew his name from the Michigan ballot.

As the nomination contest dragged on between Obama and Clinton, that decision took on more importance. Clinton, trailing Obama in delegates, had pushed to have all the pledged delegates from the states restored, a position at odds with party rules and opposed by Obama's campaign.

Clinton won Michigan's contest with 55 percent of the vote; 40 percent cast ballots for ``uncommitted.'' Former Michigan Governor Jim Blanchard, representing the Clinton campaign, today urged the panel to allocate the state's delegates in accordance with those results. That would have given Clinton 73 delegates and Obama 55.

Florida, Michigan delegates to be seated with half-votes - Florida and Michigan started the day with zero delegates, and ended the day with all delegates being seated with a half-vote each. The primaries in those states were arguably unbalanced in Senator Clinton's favor, so her supporters ...

Florida, Michigan delegates will get half-votes - WASHINGTON - Democratic Party leaders agreed Saturday to seat Michigan and Florida delegates with half-votes at this summer's convention with a compromise that left Barack Obama on the verge of the nomination but riled Hillary Rodham ...

Dems decide on Florida, Michigan delegates - In a letter to the co-chairs of the rules committee, Clinton lawyer Lyn Utrecht said Friday that the panel is compelled to seat both delegations from Florida and Michigan fully and not award Obama any delegates from Michigan. ...