On the campaign trail, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama traded barbs Wednesday over the possibility of a re-vote in Florida and Michigan. Both states have already held their nominating contests, but the Democratic National Committee refuses to seat their delegates after they moved up their primary dates. In Washington, Clinton said the vote should either be counted or redone.

Sen. Hillary Clinton: “If you’re a voter from Florida or Michigan, you know that we should count your votes. The nearly two-and-a-half million Americans in those two states who participated in the primary elections are in danger of being excluded from our democratic process, and I think that’s wrong. The results of those primaries were fair, and they should be honored. Over the last few weeks, there’s been a lot of discussion about what we should do to ensure that the voters in Florida and Michigan are counted. Well, in my view, there are two options: honor the results or hold new primary elections.”

Clinton won the Michigan and Florida contests in January. But the votes were widely seen as meaningless, because none of the candidates campaigned in Florida, while Senator Barack Obama and John Edwards stayed off the ballot in Michigan. Speaking in Chicago, Obama said his campaign shouldn’t be punished for having played by the rules.

Sen. Barack Obama: “The Clinton campaign seems to want to make up rules as they go along on this issue. We’ve simply said we’ll play by whatever rules are established. That’s what we did with Florida and Michigan at the outset. We were told that they wouldn’t count. Senator Clinton agreed that they wouldn’t count, until she thought maybe they should count. My bottom line is, I do want to make sure that the Florida and Michigan delegations have an opportunity to participate at the convention, and we want to figure out an equitable way to do that, and our campaign is in ongoing conversations with the Michigan delegation, the Florida delegation, as well as the DNC [Democratic National Committee], to find that equitable solution, and I think it will be worked out.”

Michigan and Florida officials continue to draft plans for a re-vote. In other campaign news, former vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro has left the Clinton campaign over her controversial remarks on Obama’s candidacy. Ferraro told a California newspaper this week Obama is only a contender in the race because he is black. On Thursday, Ferraro refused to apologize for her remarks but said she is stepping down to avoid becoming a distraction. Her departure comes less than a week after Obama adviser Samantha Power resigned after she was quoted calling Hillary Clinton a “monster.”