LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The state attorney general's office on Tuesday asked the Court of Appeals for a speedy hearing on a lower court's ruling that part of Michigan's law setting up a Jan. 15 presidential primary is unconstitutional.

Attorney General Mike Cox and several other top state officials want the Michigan Court of Appeals to deal with the appeal by Friday, saying time is dwindling to save the primary. They've also asked the appeals court to put a hold on the lower court order blocking the primary from being held until the matter can be decided.

Ingham County Circuit Court Judge William Collette ruled last Wednesday that part of the law is unconstitutional. The next day, the Republican-controlled state Senate passed a bill changing the law so a Jan. 15 presidential primary could clear Collette's objections.

But not enough Democrats supported a procedural vote to give the two-thirds majority needed to allow the new law to take effect in time for the election. Lawmakers were supposed to be in session Tuesday to possibly address the issue, but decided not to meet.

The holdup is affecting not just Michigan's primary but New Hampshire's, where Secretary of State Bill Gardner is waiting to see what happens in Michigan before setting the date for his primary, the first after the Iowa caucuses.

Jan. 8 has emerged as the most likely day, but Gardner — who has sole discretion over setting the date — refuses to rule out a mid-December primary.

Wednesday was supposed to be the day by which the Michigan Republican and Democratic chairmen had to tell the secretary of state whether they were going to go ahead with the primary or switch to caucuses or party conventions to nominate their presidential favorites. But with the law in limbo, that deadline is meaningless.

Nonetheless, state GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis sent a letter to the secretary of state Tuesday saying Republicans plan to choose their national convention delegates through the Jan. 15 presidential primary rather than at a Jan. 26 presidential convention, the party's fallback in case the primary doesn't occur.

An East Lansing political consultant and others who brought the case opposed a provision of the law that gives the state Democratic and Republican parties exclusive access to lists of who voted in their respective primaries. They don't want to stop the primary itself.

But there may be some in the Democratic primary who do, and who have argued that Michigan should stick with its plan for presidential caucuses, either on Feb. 9 or an earlier date.

House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford, said last week that it would be hard to justify the expense of the election now that so many Democratic candidates have pulled themselves off the ballot in Michigan.

Barack Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson and Joe Biden have withdrawn from the ballot to honor Democratic National Committee rules forbidding most states to hold their presidential contests before Feb. 5.

But Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm and other powerful Democrats still support the primary, along with Anuzis and many Republican activists.

"I'm hopeful that the court will see the importance of having an early primary for Michigan," Granholm told reporters Tuesday. "We cannot have our presidential nominees selected by states that have no bearing at all on the state of Michigan, whose issues are completely dissimilar from ours. I'm hopeful the court will uphold the early primary."

Bill Nowling, a spokesman for the Michigan Republican Party, said a quick decision by the appeals court is necessary so election clerks will have time to deal with a primary if one is scheduled.

"The longer we wait the more hardship we put on clerks, and we don't want to do that," he said.