Clinton, Obama Vow to Bury Race Debate

LAS VEGAS - Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama blamed aides and campaign surrogates Tuesday night for fueling a campaign controversy over race, jointly pledging on the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. to put the matter behind them.

At a debate in which the two sparred almost cordially, Obama suggested Clinton had taken a page from President Bush's political playbook with an earlier statement that the next president could expect to be tested quickly by terrorists.

"When Senator Clinton uses the specter of a terrorist attack with a new prime minister during a campaign, I think that is part and parcel with what we've seen, the use of the fear of terrorism in scoring political points, and I think that's a mistake," he said.

Asked by NBC's Tim Russert whether she had meant to say terrorists would test Obama more than her, she replied, "No, of course not," before adding, "it matters who's president."

Clinton, Obama and former Sen. John Edwards, the only white man among the candidates on stage, settled in for their debate as the former first lady won a meaningless Michigan presidential primary, a contest held in violation of party rules.

The debate also unfolded four days before the party-sanctioned Nevada caucuses, the next for-keeps contest in the wide-open race for the party's presidential nomination.

Race dominated the debate at the outset, after several days of back-and-forth that left many Democrats worried about an adverse impact on the party's prospects for the general election.

Obama said "not only in hindsight, but going forward," he regretted that his staff had prodded reporters to pursue the issue.

"Our supporters, our staff, get overzealous. They start saying things that I would not say," added the most viable black candidate in history.

"We both have exuberant and sometimes uncontrollable supporters," Clinton said in the opening moments of a two-hour, round-table debate televised on MSNBC. "We need to get this campaign where it should be," said the former first lady, seeking to become the first woman to occupy the White House.

She said comments by black businessman Robert Johnson over the weekend were inappropriate, but sidestepped when asked whether she would bar him from playing a role in her campaign. Johnson made an evident reference to Obama's youthful drug use — although he denied that was his intent.

Obama won the kickoff Iowa caucuses less than two weeks ago, and Clinton countered with an upset victory last Tuesday in the New Hampshire primary. Edwards is winless. After Nevada, the South Carolina Democratic primary is Jan. 26, then the campaign explodes with nearly two dozen contests on Feb. 5.

There was a political reason for the pleasantries, underscored when Edwards was asked whether he and Obama had teamed up to attack Clinton in a debate just before the New Hampshire primary.

"I don't think it was that way," he said. "My job as a candidate for president is to speak the truth as I see it."

Clinton won the primary in an upset three days after the debate, carried to victory over Obama by an unexpectedly large turnout by women voters.

At the same time, there were limits to the comraderie, and Clinton, in particular, took several opportunities to challenge her rivals.

Asked whether Edwards and Obama were prepared to sit in the White House, she said "that's what the voters have to decide."

Later, Clinton asked Obama to back her legislation to prevent Bush from unilaterally extending the United States' presence in Iraq beyond the end of his term next January.

"I think we can work on this, Hillary," he replied.

On an issue of particular interest in Nevada, the former first lady stressed her opposition to a plan to develop a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in the state. She said Obama's campaign drew financial support from a company that favors the project, and in a rare campaign jab at Edwards, said he had twice voted for it.

Obama countered, saying that even though his home state of Illinois has more nuclear power plants than any other, his opposition to the controversial project was unequivocal.

Edwards said he had changed his mind on the issue, citing new scientific evidence about its risks.

Edwards, given a chance to question his rivals, pointed out the huge sums that Clinton and Obama have raised from drug and insurance companies. "Do you think these people expect something or are they just interested in good government?" he asked.

Obama quickly replied that he did not accept donations from federal lobbyists or political action committees, and Edwards just as quickly pointed out that applied to him as well.

All three also agreed they would not seek creation of a national gun registry, a shift in position for Clinton.

The Michigan primary was an election in name only, where Clinton was the only major candidate entered. She faced competition principally from the "uncommitted" line on the ballot, an option that some supporters of Edwards and Obama advocated to embarrass her.

Returns from 87 percent of the state's precincts showed her with 56 percent of the vote, and uncommitted gaining about 39 percent.

Pre-caucus polls in Nevada make it a close race among the three, an event spiced by a lawsuit filed by several Clinton supporters hoping to challenge the ground rules.

Their objective was to prevent several caucuses along the Las Vegas Strip, where thousands of Culinary Workers Union employees — many of them Hispanic or black — hold jobs.

The rules were approved in May, when Clinton was the overwhelming national front-runner in the race. But the union voted to endorse Obama last week, and the lawsuit followed.

Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich had hoped to have a seat at the table, but the Nevada Supreme Court ruled shortly before the debate began that MSNBC was legally entitled to prevent him from participating. It promptly did.

Source: Yahoo News

Obama, Clinton Go for Black Vote in SC

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — In beauty shops, churches and living rooms, organizers for Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are in a fierce competition for the support of black voters in the upcoming first-in-the-South presidential primary.

Obama's campaign is counting on blacks who traditionally make up half of the Democratic primary voters here to deliver the state to him on Jan. 26, a victory that he hopes will help fuel momentum going into the "Mega Tuesday" voting in 22 states 10 days later. But he'll have to fend off Clinton, who comes with one of the most beloved political surnames in the black community.

The outreach is especially targeted at black women, who are reliable voters and who both campaigns recognize may feel loyalties to each candidate. And so far women have made the difference in the campaign — Obama won a majority of women in Iowa and took the state, while Clinton took most women and most votes overall in New Hampshire.

Juanita Edwards is one such voter. She came to see both candidates when they campaigned near her hometown of Simpsonville and still feels torn about which to vote for. Edwards said she's leaning toward Clinton because she likes that she had exposure to international affairs and health care during her time as first lady. But race and gender are on her mind too.

"I definitely respect the opportunity to vote for the first woman president and the first African-American president," she said. "If I have to lean toward one, I always lean toward a strong, intelligent woman."

In the early days of the primary race last year, Clinton had the advantage in polls here and she's won over many influential black leaders. But Obama has been able to turn that around through a labor-intensive effort aimed at black communities. He has a large campaign staff that tries to win over preachers and barbers who hold sway in the community, and those organizers also hold meetings with small groups of people — mostly women — in their homes.

The message has a different focus than it did in Iowa and New Hampshire, where almost all voters are white. It stresses Obama's civil rights work, his faith and the struggles he faced growing up, only to end up in Ivy League schools.

"Dream of a president who was raised like Barack was by a single mom who had to work and go to school and raise her kids and accept food stamps once in a while," the candidate's wife, Michelle Obama, said on a visit to the state in November. "Imagine a president who knows what that's like."

It's a story that Deborah Williams says she shares with the two sons that she's raised on her own.

"He's an example of somebody who was raised by a single parent and came out on top and still cares for somebody else," she said. "That's what I always tell my sons; you have to care for others and you have to get your education."

Williams, who came to the University of Charleston on Thursday to see Obama speak, said she will vote for him in the primary, even though at first she was backing Clinton.

"Initially I was supporting her because I must say I'm a Bill Clinton fan," said Williams, an elementary school teacher's assistant. "But then Barack came along and had all the things to say about change."

John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, endorsed Obama here on Thursday to send a message to South Carolina voters that Obama is not simply a candidate for blacks, but one who crosses the racial divide. It also could tell black voters who haven't been reassured by Obama's win in Iowa that he's a candidate who can be embraced by white America.

The Clintons have yet to announce a visit to South Carolina after her win in New Hampshire, and Obama advisers say they wonder whether she's going to campaign in the state. There's a theory that she could skip it, then argue that he was able to win because it was a predominantly black election.

Clinton adviser Minyon Moore said that won't happen. "It's her intention to be in South Carolina and work for every vote there," Moore said. "I can assure you that she's not abandoning South Carolina. There are trips being planned."

Asked how Obama was able to chip away at Clinton's lead among black voters, Moore pointed to a rally last month that drew nearly 30,000 to see the Illinois senator and his most famous friend. "He did have a lovely event with Oprah Winfrey, and we do credit him with that," she said.

Obama advisers say it's unlikely Oprah will make it back to campaign. But spouses of both candidates could help. Bill Clinton would be a powerful draw should the campaign decide to send him. Michelle Obama plans to campaign next week in Georgetown, S.C., her maternal grandfather's hometown.