* Lobbying heats up to preserve jobs

* Lawmakers less inclined to defer to task force

* Small suppliers seek help from Congress (Adds dealer lobbying effort, suppliers request)

By John Crawley

WASHINGTON, May 13 (Reuters) - With General Motors Corp GM.N planning to end production of Saturns and Pontiacs at its Delaware plant which employs more than 1,000 people, state leaders are scrambling to win new work at the facility or persuade the company to move other operations to the region.

"This would appear on the surface to leave us in bleak circumstances," U.S. Sen. Thomas Carper, a Democrat and former governor who helped save the 62-year-old Wilmington plant from closure in the early 1990s, said.

"We're encouraging them not to close the plant. At some point, GM will need more capacity," Carper told Reuters in an interview.

Carper's interview and other recent interviews with government officials, lobbyists and economists precede a June 1 deadline for GM to show a White House/Treasury task force overseeing industry restructuring that it can be viable on its own.

Failure to satisfy the task force would trigger bankruptcy where GM could try to finalize concessions. It is seeking givebacks from debtholders and the United Auto Workers and wants to slash its network of 6,000 dealers. GM plans to cut 21,000 factory jobs.