Washington - Supporters of presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton engaged in passionate, tense and at times testy exchanges over the disputed primaries of Florida and Michigan on Saturday as Democratic leaders battled to maintain unity and keep the party's focus on winning back the White House in November.

"We are strong enough to struggle and disagree, and even be angry and disappointed, and still come together at the end of the day and be united," Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), said in opening a special meeting of the party.

Hundreds of supporters - mainly Clinton's - gathered outside a Washington hotel as the DNC's 30-member rules committee wrestled with challenges from Michigan and Florida's Democratic parties to seat their delegates.

The two states violated the party's schedule for primaries and were therefore stripped by the DNC last year of their seats at the convention in August in Denver, Colorado.

Florida officials made a passionate plea for the state's votes to be counted and often evoked the disputed 2000 presidential election, which most Democrats believe President George W Bush unfairly won over Al Gore.

"I need not tell this committee that in Florida we're pretty sensitive about having our votes taken away," said Florida Senator Bill Nelson, who pointed out that a record number of voters turned out for the state's January 29 primary despite being told it would not count.

Michigan's Democratic Party argued the state is crucial to winning November's general election against presumed Republican candidate John McCain.

Republicans "never fail to remind the voters of Michigan how the Democrats have ignored Michigan, don't care about Michigan and don't deserve the support of Michigan's voters in the fall," warned Mark Brewer, chairman of the state's Democratic Party.

Reinstating Florida and Michigan's delegates is one of Clinton's last hopes of wrestling the nomination from Obama, who holds a solid lead as almost five months of state-by-state primary elections near an end. The last contests, in South Dakota and Montana, are set for June 3.

Clinton wants Florida and Michigan's January votes to be honoured in full, but faces an uphill battle for the nomination even if she does get her way. The former first lady won both contests handily, though there was no campaigning in either state and Obama's name did not appear on Michigan's ballot.

The DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee heard from representatives of both campaigns, the states' parties and officials who filed complaints against Florida and Michigan's punishment, in an at-times raucous and heated five-hour morning meeting. Committee members were set to debate the options amongst themselves in a late-afternoon gathering.

A decision could come by the end of Saturday or early Sunday. Michigan's party officials offered a compromise that would halve Clinton's victory margin in the state, while Florida proposed seating only half the states' delegates according to the margin of the January primary.

Clinton and many state officials have argued that shutting out the two populous, key states could alienate Democratic voters in the November 4 general elections. Obama and his supporters argue he was less well-known than Clinton in January, and that the states' election results were not a fair reflection of voter preferences.

"This contest was not a normal primary election," said Florida Congressman Robert Wexler, who on behalf of Obama's campaign said he supported the proposal for half of the state's delegates being reinstated.

The fine details of the US primary system have rarely taken on such a key role in an election. The DNC has defended last year's punishment of the two states, arguing that doing nothing would have placed the entire intra-party nomination process in jeopardy.

But some committee members expressed regret over that original ruling as all sides lamented that voters in the two states had been disenfranchised by a decision taken by party officials.

Many agreed the two states' votes were flawed - that turnout would have been much higher if voters had not been told the primaries did not count - and openly fretted over exactly what should now be done.

"I want to be fair. I want to do the right thing," said committee member Mame Reiley, a Clinton supporter. "Quite frankly, I'm not sure what the right thing is to do." (dpa)