Not only that, but the only way to seat them all requires that it be done by the Credentials Committee in Denver on the first day of the convention.

A Democratic Party rules committee has the authority to seat some delegates from Michigan and Florida but not fully restore the two states as Hillary Rodham Clinton wants, according to party lawyers. ADVERTISEMENT

Democratic National Committee rules require that the two states lose at least half of their convention delegates for holding elections too early, the party's legal experts wrote in a 38-page memo.

The memo was sent late Tuesday to the 30 members of the party's Rules and Bylaws Committee, which plans to meet Saturday at a Washington hotel. The committee is considering ways to include the two important general election battlegrounds at the nominating convention in August, and the staff analysis says seating half the delegates is "as far as it legally can" go.

So, the party of "Count Every Vote" is not the party of "Disenfranchise Every Voter" -- apparently as a matter of law (I'd love to see this memo -- wouldn't you?).

But that Credentials Committee challenge is important -- it gives Hillary Clinton a plausible reason to stay in the race through the Convention itself, and to wage a Kennedyesque floor fight to seat the remaining delegates. Could be really ugly -- if you are a Democrat.