Hillary Clinton whams Barack Obama on re-do vote

BY MICHAEL SAUL
DAILY NEWS POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

Thursday, March 20th 2008, 4:00 AM

Hillary Clinton rolled into Detroit Wednesday and pressured Barack Obama to agree to primary do-overs in Michigan and Florida, declaring anything short would be an "un-American" disenfranchisement of voters.

"Sen. Obama speaks passionately on the campaign trail about empowering the American people," Clinton told a crowd of hundreds at a Detroit union hall. "Today I am asking him to match those words with actions."

Michigan and Florida were stripped of their delegates to the Democratic National Convention because both states held their primaries before Feb. 5 in violation of party rules.

They have thus far been unable to iron out do-over elections. Obama, appearing on CNN, accused Clinton of being disingenuous.

"As soon as she got into trouble politically and it looked like she would have no prospects of winning the nomination without having them count, suddenly she's extraordinarily concerned with the voters there," said Obama, who delivered an Iraq speech earlier in the day while campaigning in North Carolina.

Clinton, who currently trails Obama in pledged delegates and the popular vote, desperately needs new primaries in both states to slice into his lead.

Obama has said he would be "fine" with new contests, but his campaign released a memo yesterday raising myriad objections.

Obama's top lawyer wrote the re-do election is "unprecedented in conception and proposed structure" and faces a variety of "legal and administrative questions" that could undermine the results.

msaul@nydailynews.com