Sen. Christopher Dodd said Monday there's a simple way to end the wrangling between Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama over Florida and Michigan delegates: divide them evenly between the two Democratic presidential candidates.
"Split up the delegations, let 'em each have 50 percent of it and move on," said Dodd. "You don't have to go back over and re-do these things."
Added Dodd: "My view is make this as simple as you can."
The Connecticut Democrat, an Obama backer and former 2008 presidential hopeful, said such a move would save taxpayers from having to pay for do-over primaries that some Democrats have proposed.
"I don't like the idea that taxpayers will have to pay," said Dodd. "Why should they have to pay twice?"
Dodd said holding primaries again would wrongly reward the two states for trying to jump ahead of other states on the national party's primary and caucus calendar.
"There's gotta be a price you pay for this thing," Dodd said.
The Democratic National Committee have stripped Florida and Michigan of their delegates for holding their primaries too early.
Florida and Michigan had moved up their dates to protest the party's decision to allow Iowa and New Hampshire to go first, followed by South Carolina and Nevada, giving them a disproportionate influence on the presidential selection process.
Clinton won both the Florida and Michigan contests, but the results were meaningless because the elections violated national party rules. Obama did not appear on Michigan's ballot.
The disqualifications created a headache for the party due to the closeness of the race. Officials from both states are trying to resolve the issue before the national convention in late August so their delegates can be counted.
Obama currently has more delegates than Clinton, but that could change if Clinton were to win a large enough portion of Florida and Michigan's delegates. Dodd's proposal to split the delegates would keep Obama in the delegate lead.
Some in the party have proposed having major Democratic donors pay for the do-over primaries instead of taxpayers. Dodd rejected that approach.
"The idea that a bunch of fat cats are gonna finance it, I don't like that idea at all," Dodd said.
Dodd said he had not talked with Obama or any party officials about the idea of evenly splitting the Florida and Michigan delegates.
There also have been proposals floated for mail-in primaries to give Florida and Michigan Democrats a voice in electing a candidate for president. Cost and security issues, however have been raised. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has said the national party needs its money for the general election campaign against Republican John McCain.
Dodd's remarks on delegate dispute came after a speech to members of the International Association of Fire Fighters, which supported his presidential bid.