US:BARACK OBAMA and Hillary Clinton are advertising heavily in Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota, which hold the final primaries next week, but a meeting of 30 people in a Washington hotel next Saturday could have a more profound impact on the Democratic endgame.
The party's rules and bylaws committee will meet in the US capital to consider appeals by the Florida and Michigan parties against a decision earlier this year to invalidate their primaries.
Florida and Michigan held primaries earlier than national party rules allowed and, as a punishment, they were stripped of all their delegates to August's Democratic convention in Denver.
Mrs Clinton won both primaries but no Democratic candidates campaigned in either state and Mr Obama took his name off the ballot in Michigan.
All sides agree that some way must be found to seat at least part of the delegations from Florida and Michigan at the convention, not least because both are big states that could be pivotal in November's election. The dispute centres on how many delegates should be seated and how they should be allocated between Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama.
Mrs Clinton wants the delegations from both states to be seated in full, arguing in Florida last week that justice demanded it. "Here in Florida, more than 1.7 million people cast their vote, the highest primary turnout in the history of Florida. And nearly 600,000 voters in Michigan did the same," she said. "I believe the Democratic Party must count these votes. They should count them exactly as they were cast. Democracy demands no less."
Party leaders in Michigan and Florida would settle for less, and both states have put forward compromise proposals that could see them lose some delegates. Mr Obama wants a solution that will appease Democrats in both states but will not eat too deeply into his delegate lead or put his almost inevitable nomination in question.
If all the delegates were seated according to the votes cast in both states, Mrs Clinton would receive 105 delegates from Florida and about 73 from Michigan. Mr Obama would win at least 67 from Florida and 55 from Michigan if he receives the votes of Michigan voters who chose "uncommitted" rather than voting for Mrs Clinton.
Mr Obama currently enjoys a delegate lead of about 190, so even the most optimistic scenario for Mrs Clinton would not enable her to catch up with him. Mrs Clinton hopes, however, that a generous allocation of delegates in her favour will narrow the delegate gap to the point where she can claim a virtual tie.
The former first lady expects that, by the end of the primaries, she will be ahead in the popular vote if Florida and Michigan are counted, bolstering her argument to uncommitted superdelegates that they should consider giving her the nomination.
At least 13 members of the rules and bylaws committee are Clinton supporters, compared to about eight for Mr Obama. If Saturday's meeting fails to resolve the issue to everyone's satisfaction, it could be appealed to the party's credentials committee, which meets in July - or even be put to a vote at the convention in August.
Few Democrats outside Mrs Clinton's closest circle have an appetite for extending the nomination battle beyond next week, however, and Washington is buzzing with rumours that Mr Obama has received pledges from dozens of undeclared superdelegates who will endorse him next week.