Liveblogging the DNC Rules Committee -- the Michigan case

2:54 p.m. Time for lunch. Finally. After lunch, the committee will reconvene at 4:15 pm and start debate.

2:16 p.m. Clinton is represented by former Michigan Governor Jim Blanchard, recently designated one of the top "hired guns" in Washington by The Hill. His first big scoop is that "in private," Hillary says she'll campaign her heart out for Obama if he gets the nomination. Clinton's campaign wants the delegates seated with 73 for her and 55 uncommitted. Note, the 55 aren't for Obama, they're uncommitted. Clinton's campaign isn't giving anything to Obama. Yeah, that's fair. (And at 2:53 p.m., Harold Ickes is shut down again.)

1:50 p.m. Former Congressman David Bonior, who chaired the campaign of John Edwards, is now speaking on behalf of the Obama campaign. Reminds everyone, once again, in Hillary Clinton's words, the primary would not count. Yes, he quoted Hillary Clinton on this. But, that quote might not count now. Obama campaign wants to split the delegates from Michigan evenly. (People are hissing again...seriously, that is so weak. Weak. And, pathetic.) Michigan had a flawed primary, only fair solution is to split delegates evenly.

1:44 p.m. Clearly, Harold Ickes does not want Obama to get any of the uncommitted delegates. He kept talking about "fair resolution." In fact, last week, Ickes has stated, in his role as Clinton spokesperson, that he did not want Obama to get any delegates. Levin smacked him down: "You want a fair resolution of a flawed process."

1:08 p.m. Senator Carl Levin: "The Democratic party needs unity." The MI Dems have found unity, asking the committee to preserve it. Claims unity from the candidates, too, for full seating of MI delegation. Levin asked the committee to not override the unity. The question is allocation, of course. Levin thinks Obama wants a 50/50 split, but that Clinton would allow 73 for her, 55 for Obama. (Not sure that's true). Michigan knows it was a flawed primary. Levin and his working group want at 69/59 allocation.

12:50 p.m. First witness is State Party Chair Mark Brewer who made the case for seating. Allocation issues are the big problem with Michigan...Brewer provided a lot of evidence for allocation.