He, as well as Clinton's communications director, Howard Wolfson, said the former first lady had won more votes than Obama in the course of the primary campaign -- an argument she placed in a new television advertisement in South Dakota and Montana, and one she makes to undecided superdelegates.

Gibbs disputed that -- and Clinton's claim includes estimates for caucuses in Iowa, Nevada, Maine and Washington state, where no official candidate popular vote is available. It also includes the results from Florida, where no campaigning occurred, as well as Michigan, where Obama did not receive any votes because his name was not on the ballot.

Clinton's campaign objected to the rules committee decision on Michigan's delegates, saying it had arbitrarily taken four delegates away from the former first lady and awarded them to Obama. As a result, officials said she may seek a decision on the issue by the convention credentials committee, which meets shortly before the convention opens in Denver.

Harold Ickes, a top adviser to Clinton, said on NBC's "Meet The Press" no decision had yet been made.

"I have not had a chance to talk with Senator Clinton at any length about it, and obviously this will be a big decision. But her rights are reserved," he said.

But one of her strongest supporters, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, sounded uninterested in a further challenge.

"I don't think we're going to fight this at the convention, because even were we to win it, unless it's going to change enough delegates for Senator Clinton to win the nomination, then it would be a fight that would have no purpose," Rendell said on CBS' "Face the Nation".

(China Daily via agencies June 2, 2008)