Michigan Democrats may be one step closer to deciding how the state's delegates should be seated at the Democratic National Convention in August. A plan drafted by four members of the Michigan Democratic Party would award 69 convention delegates to Sen. Hillary Clinton and 59 to Sen. Barack Obama.

Sen. Carl Levin, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger and Democratic National Committee member Debbie Dingell sent a letter to MDP Chairman Mark Brewer outlining the proposal Tuesday.

MDP spokeswoman Liz Kerr said the MDP is studying the proposal and the party's executive committee will discuss it Wednesday.

Democrats have struggled to determine what role the state's delegates should play in choosing the party's presidential nominee. The DNC stripped Michigan's delegates following the state legislature's decision to move the state's primary to Jan. 15 in violation of party rules.

Because Sen. Obama withdrew his name from the Michigan ballot, he was not awarded any delegates. The Obama campaign instead encouraged his supporters to vote "uncommitted." Based on the results of the Jan. 15 primary, 73 delegates would be awarded to Clinton and 55 would go to the national convention uncommitted.

The 69-59 split is a compromise between plans proposed by the Clinton and Obama campaigns. Clinton's campaign has pushed to award her 73 delegates and 55 delegates to Obama. Obama's campaign has pushed for an even 64-64 split.

The letter emphasized the need to find a fair solution to the problem quickly.

"In recent weeks we contacted both campaign organizations to see if we could negotiate a compromise that would be acceptable to both candidates. While we have not yet been able to achieve that goal, we cannot allow this deadlock to continue with its negative impact on the ability of our nominee to carry Michigan in November, and indeed to win the election," the letter said.

The candidates and the Democratic National Committee have not publicly commented on the new proposal.