"We have been impatiently waiting for the Appeals Court to grant us this hearing considering the fact that time is running out if we have to appeal our case to the United States Supreme Court if the Florida Delegation is still shut out of the convention in August at the same time the Supreme Court takes its annual recess" according to Mr. DiMaio.

From the outset, DiMaio's suit was not taken very seriously and, after U.S. District Court Judge Richard A. Lazzara dismissed it last September in a bluntly worded opinion, the matter seemed destined to be a mere footnote in the Clinton-Obama saga.

Undaunted, however, DiMaio decided to appeal. That, too, provoked little attention, the assumption being that the appellate court would similarly recognize the suit as being without merit, decline to entertain oral arguments and summarily dismiss it in a short memorandum.

But wait, as those annoying infomercials scream at television viewers, this lawsuit may have legs after all.

In fact, while it remains a long shot, DiMaio's legal action just might turn out to be the deciding factor in who becomes the Democratic presidential nominee.

The first inkling that we may be in for a shocker here came with the recent announcement by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit that it will, indeed, hear oral arguments in the case next Monday.