In a potentially calamitous turn of events, officials in Florida and Michigan are dying to have Democratic delegates seated at the party’s national convention.

Both states’ primaries were held in January but did not count. The DNC warned all states not to move their primary and caucus dates any earlier than Super Tuesday, February 5. Michigan and Florida called the DNC’s bluff. Only it wasn’t a bluff.

Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are in such a tight race that the magic number of 2,025 delegates needed to win the nomination appears out of reach.

If Florida and Michigan, with 366 delegates between them, were to suddenly count, their delegates just might put either candidate over the top.

The reasons it is ridiculous to apportion delegates based on the January results or hold new elections - both of which have been proposed - are:

• Rules are rules. A February 5 race would have been plenty early, but Florida and Michigan moved up even further despite being told in no uncertain terms that this would be the result! Now what? They’re sorry?

• Obama did not run in those races. Clinton didn’t either, but in January, she enjoyed far greater name recognition in states where Barack Obama didn’t show up. He wasn’t even officially on the ballot in Michigan.

• Do-overs are moot at this stage. If you allocated delegates based on the January elections, Clinton would win 60 percent. Nowadays, Obama gets 45-48 percent at worst (see Texas and Ohio), shrinking the margin.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will point plenty of fingers over this mess.

By our calculations, two 55-45 percent wins would give Hillary a 201-165 edge in delegates, narrowing the deficit slightly, but not changing the math or the story.

Thus, the principal result of such an exercise is collateral damage.

There’s a reason Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican and a candidate for the V.P. nomination under John McCain (at least in our view), says he wants Democratic votes in the Sunshine State counted. It’s not because he’s a nice guy.

If Michigan and Florida scheduled new primaries or caucuses, a Democratic race already bordering on mass hysteria would officially attain that status.

Millions of dollars would be spent the states and party to hold the elections - with Clinton and Obama spending millions more tearing each other limb from limb. All while Crist and the Republicans smile as they sit and watch.

Hillary’s garbage 3 a.m. ad is proof positive of Democrats doing the Republicans’ work for them. Attack ads on national security readiness? Sparring on personal integrity? The longer this goes on, the better the GOP looks.

If this continues, whoever wins this historic Democratic race will emerge weaker than John McCain. The only question is how much weaker.

Finding the right way to arrive at a winner is a challenge, no doubt, but the answer is not letting Florida and Michigan back in the mix.