DNC should resolve MI and FL issue on Saturday. Pelosi says it could all wrap up next week. (P.S. It should)

On Saturday, at a hotel a couple blocks from my building, the DNC's Rules and By-law Committee will meet to decide the fate of Florida and Michigan. Clearly, most of the key players want to wrap this up. Based on the reports circulating, it looks like those two states, which broke the rules, will be punished by having only half their delegations seated. That's the same punishment inflicted by the RNC on Michigan and Florida. The end could be in sight -- and Speaker Nancy Pelosi says it could end next week and won't go to the convention:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she will step in if necessary to make sure the presidential nomination fight between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama does not reach the Democratic National Convention - though she believes it could be resolved as early as next week.

Pelosi predicted Wednesday that a presidential nominee will emerge in the week after the final Democratic primaries on June 3, but she said "I will step in" if there is no resolution by late June regarding the seating of delegates from Florida and Michigan, the two states that defied party rules by holding early primaries.

"Because we cannot take this fight to the convention," she said. "It must be over before then."

She's right. Pelosi and other Democratic leaders have to make sure it is over next week.

The X factor is, of course, the Clintons and how far they are willing to continue their losing battle. John Cole agrees with Rachel Maddow that the Clintons will take this all the way to the convention. And, there's plenty of evidence pointing in that direction. The campaign is still riling up its supporters -- and Saturday is going to be a big day for them. But, at this point in the process -- in June of an election year -- is there really no better use of time and money than this?:

Saturday's pro-Clinton event is being co-organized by the Women Count PAC -- founded by five top Clinton supporters, including longtime friend and fundraiser Susie Tompkins Buell -- and a coalition of disparate other groups working under the umbrella of Count Every Vote '08.

Organizers said that they expect people to come from 26 states for the rally, as well as some major celebrity speakers, and that they are receiving logistical assistance or other support from the pro-Clinton United Federation of Teachers and Emily's List.

Count Every Vote '08 first came together in mid-March to lobby Democratic superdelegates on behalf of Clinton. Allida M. Black, project director and editor of the Eleanor Roosevelt papers at George Washington University, joined with Tompkins Buell to start Women Count PAC two weeks ago. They raised more than $250,000 and used the money to buy newspaper ads, including ones that ran in the New York Times over the weekend calling on female readers to attend Saturday's rally.

When I saw that full page ad, I couldn't help but think that money could be used to help elect more Democrats in the House or Senate. It's stunning that groups like EMILY's List are still pumping time and money into a losing cause when there are so many other worthy races that could use help. So many.

Maybe after Saturday, the founders of "Count Every Vote '08" can start a new campaign to help the Clinton campaign pay off its debt. The new group could be called "Pay Every Bill '08." Of course, a better use of time and resources would be a campaign called "Elect Every Democrat '08."