Analysis: Party insider Clinton now on the outs

Clinton voters seemed receptive to the call. At the Miami rally, one held a sign declaring: "Not counting votes: It's a Republican thing, not a Democratic thing."

DNC spokeswoman Stacie Paxton said they expect hundreds of people to show up at the Washington area hotel for the committee meeting, but said she had no specific knowledge of planned protests or demonstrations.

"We're expecting there will be a significant interest and public attendance," said Paxton.

Demanding more consideration from party bosses is a far cry from where the Clintons expected to be at this stage of the race. Last year, the former first lady seemed almost certain to capture the nomination. But for all their past electoral successes, the two have had a complicated history with party leadership.

In Bill Clinton's first term, he practiced the political art of "triangulation," finding a middle ground between the left and the right and claiming it as his own. Many in the party felt that strategy left congressional Democrats badly exposed, leading to the Republican takeover of the House in 1994.

The Clintons aren't alone in coming to terms with the role reversal. The current head of the DNC, Howard Dean, became a national figure in 2004 as he campaigned for president claiming to represent "the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party." He stormed the early primaries but imploded and ended up with a key party position instead.

Now, the former outsider Dean must decide what to do about the new outsider Clinton, and do it in a way that doesn't leave their party locked out of the White House for another four years.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Associated Press Writer Devlin Barrett has covered New York politics for five years.