As Americans set their clocks ahead this weekend, political leaders in Michigan and Florida are wishing they could turn back time.

They don't want to suffer the consequences of their decisions, made months ago, that scheduled their primary elections for early January in defiance of the Democratic National Committee. Party leaders had warned state officials that the 366 delegates of the two states would not be seated at the national convention in August if Michigan and Florida jumped ahead in the election schedule.

But state officials, who had long chafed at the vaunted status the early primaries gave to Iowa and New Hampshire, did so anyway. The threat that seemed idle when a national rout by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was being predicted looms as severe punishment now, with the race between her and Sen. Barack Obama too close to call.

Mrs. Clinton "won" both primaries, and her supporters would like the party to relent and seat the delegates. That wouldn't be fair to Mr. Obama, who was among the candidates who had their names removed from the Michigan ballot in deference to national party leaders.

If re-do elections are scheduled, these states would not be punished for breaking the rules that other states obediently followed and the candidates would be forced to extend an already elongated campaign season.

There is no perfect solution.

Then there's the question of paying for it. Michigan and Florida Democratic officials want the DNC to bear the cost of any new election. But the state parties created the problem and therefore should have to pay to repair the damage.

At this point the Democrats have two choices, both of them flawed: deny Michigan and Florida the seating of their delegates because the states broke the rules, or hold new primaries with both candidates' participation. We prefer the latter.

This whole disheartening situation is further evidence of the need for a regional primary system that rotates the early balloting.