Four and a half months after the Michigan primary in January, the Democratic Party has finally settled on a compromise in which the state’s delegates are to be seated at the national nominating convention in August. The Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee voted today to seat all of Michigan and Florida’s pledged delegates with half a vote each, effectively rescinding the DNC’s earlier threat to refuse any such arrangement after the two states moved their primary dates ahead.

Although an imminent departure by Sen. Hillary Clinton is hardly certain, today’s announcement all but clinches the nomination for her opponent, Sen. Barack Obama. According to the Sunday Telegraph, aides for the likely nominee are said to be drafting terms of a “negotiated surrender” in which Clinton will be offered a substantial role within an Obama administration. The much discussed post of vice president, however and according to the Telegraph, appears off the table.

“They will give her the respect she deserves,” a senior Democratic strategist close to the Obama campaign told the Telegraph. “She will get something to do with health care, a cabinet post or the chance to lead the legislation through the Senate.”

Health care has been the central issue for much of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s career in politics.

The Obama campaign appears interested in collaborating with former adversaries in forming what some are already speculating may resemble the “team of rivals” cabinet assembled by President Abraham Lincoln. Among the possible job candidates are former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who recently endorsed Obama in Grand Rapids and is seen as a potential attorney general, and Sen. Joe Biden (D-NC), a contender for the secretary of state post.