Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean is under increasing pressure to bring an end to the contentious and drawn-out nomination battle, and some Democrats are questioning whether his modest approach so far has been effective.

With only eight state contests left to go and no candidate picked to challenge presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, several Democrats have called for Dean to step up his efforts to resolve the contest.

The prospect of a prolonged fight between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, they fear, will hurt the party's chances of recapturing the White House come November.

Of chief concern among party members is the question of how to seat delegations from Michigan and Florida at this summer's Democratic National Convention in Denver. Those delegates were stripped after the two states scheduled early primaries in violation of party rules. Clinton repeatedly said a week ago that she's willing to take this issue to the convention if it's not resolved.

At Democratic Party headquarters Wednesday, Dean made an effort to smooth things over with Florida Democrats. After a closed-door meeting with Florida's party chairwoman Karen Thurman and members of the state's congressional delegation, Dean announced: "We believe we will absolutely seat the delegation from Florida at the convention. That is in everybody's best interest. All of us are committed to making sure that happens."

It could be the first step toward making things right with skeptical Florida officials, still angry their delegation was excluded from any role in selecting the party's nominee.

Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who has blamed Dean for making the "wrong" decision on Florida, said Wednesday's meeting was a positive step.

"We've taken the question of whether we'd be seated off the table, and now it's just a matter of how," Wasserman Schultz, a Clinton supporter, told FOXNews.com Thursday. "They hadn't (done enough) up to yesterday, and now I think this was significant progress."

Dean won praise for his new efforts, particularly from Clinton's campaign, whose political livelihood could depend in part on seating Florida. But one official told FOX News Dean's comments were nothing new. There were no public details offered on how those delegates would be allocated, and there were no representatives from the Obama or Clinton campaigns in sight Wednesday.

Democratic strategist Susan Estrich said these overtures are coming a bit late.

"I think what he should have done is publicly forced everybody into re-dos in Michigan and Florida. I think he could have, or might have been able to position that so that neither of the candidates could say, 'no,'" she said. "Now the question is the days are passing and the time in which to organize a re-do is quickly evaporating. And short of a re-do, there's not much he can do until there's a winner in this process."

At this stage in the game, she said, he's just one man with one vote on the DNC, and the possibility of cutting a deal with the candidates is getting slimmer by the day, since such a deal could feasibly decide the nomination. She said the most he can do now is throw his weight behind a proposal, and maybe convene a special meeting of the DNC.

Michigan Democrats on Thursday scrapped another proposal to hold a re-do primary, but they did meet with Dean and the DNC is expected to issue a similar statement Friday expressing its support for seating the state's delegation and restoring the Michigan delegates' hotel rooms at the convention. (The DNC had previously given away the Denver hotel rooms for both delegations, but announced Wednesday that Florida's would be restored.)

The other DNC conundrum centers on what the 794 superdelegates can do to help move the Democratic race toward a swift and peaceful conclusion. In an interview last Friday, Dean called for all uncommitted superdelegates to announce who they're endorsing by July 1, in an effort to prevent the race from going all the way to the convention floor in August.

It's unclear who is behind this idea, though Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has indicated a desire to at least have all the superdelegates who have made up their minds announce their decision by Dean's July deadline.

The superdelegate proposal came after Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen suggested that Democrats hold a "superdelegate primary" over the course of two days in a neutral city this June, out of concern that a drawn-out battle would jeopardize the party's chances in November. Dean panned the idea before pitching the July 1 superdelegate deadline.

Donald Fowler, former DNC chairman, said he's glad to see Dean working toward a resolution with Florida, and that the situation calls for an "activist role" that includes talking regularly to party standard-bearers like John Kerry and Al Gore.

But he said "nobody can impose a solution without (the candidates') agreement, unless the imposition of that solution comes with a lot of blood on the floor."

Any compromise between the campaigns is not expected at least until early summer.

Fowler told FOXNews.com the party, in waiting to seek a resolution, mistakenly assumed there would be an obvious nominee by this point.

"It's clearly not too early, and I hope it's not too late (to reach a resolution)," he said. "It could have been done more easily if it had been sought prior to Iowa."

Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee said Dean has stayed in touch with both campaigns on a regular basis. Obama's campaign had no comment on Dean's involvement.

Former Democratic Party chairman Steve Grossman told FOX News on Wednesday that Dean has been unfairly criticized in the process. He said he is confident the chairman has both the skills and stature to bring the nomination battle to a swift conclusion.

"I don't think it's Howard Dean's fault," Grossman said. "He doesn't want to make himself the story" and is trying to go about this "quietly."

FOX News' Jim Angle, Cristina Corbin, Aaron Bruns and Judson Berger contributed to this report.