Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have become embroiled in racially tinged disputes as large numbers of black voters prepare to get their first say in the Democratic presidential campaign.
The candidates and their surrogates are heating up their rhetoric, and it could prove to be combustible beyond South Carolina's Jan. 26 Democratic primary.
Clinton, on defense over comments that she and her husband made regarding slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr's legacy and Obama's fitness for the White House, tried to turn the tables on her top primary rival. She accused his campaign of looking to score political points by distorting their words.
Hillary Clinton had said King's dream of racial equality was realized only when former US president Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, while Bill Clinton said Illinois Senator Obama was telling a "fairy tale" about his opposition to the Iraq War. Black leaders have criticized their comments, and Obama said on Sunday her comment about King was "ill-advised."
"I think it offended some folks who felt that somehow diminished King's role in bringing about the Civil Rights Act," he told reporters on a conference call. "She is free to explain that, but the notion that somehow this is our doing is ludicrous."
As evidence the Obama campaign had pushed the story, Clinton advisers pointed to a memo written by an Obama staffer compiling examples of comments by Clinton and her surrogates that could be construed as racially insensitive. The memo later surfaced on some political Web sites.
"This is an unfortunate story line the Obama campaign has pushed very successfully," the New York senator and former first lady said on Sunday on NBC television's Meet the Press. "I don't think this campaign is about gender, and I sure hope it's not about race."
But no sooner had Clinton said she hoped the campaign would not be about race than it got even more heated. A prominent black Clinton supporter, Black Entertainment Television founder Bob Johnson, criticized Obama and seemed to refer to his acknowledged teenage drug use while introducing Clinton at her next event.
Obama wrote about his youthful drug use -- marijuana, alcohol and sometimes cocaine -- in his memoir, Dreams from My Father.
Johnson later said in a statement released by the Clinton campaign that his comments referred to Obama's work as a community organizer in Chicago "and nothing else. Any other suggestion is simply irresponsible and incorrect."
Meanwhile, in Atlanta, Obama's wife rose to his defense over Bill Clinton's "fairy tale" comment. Michelle Obama said some might be skeptical that white America will elect her husband, but advised them to look to his win in Iowa.
"Ain't no black people in Iowa," she said during a speech at the Trumpet Awards, an event celebrating black achievement. "Something big, something new is happening. Let's build the future we all know is possible. Let's show our kids that America is ready for Barack Obama right now."
A nationwide Washington Post-ABC News poll released on Sunday showed that Obama has been making up ground on longtime front-runner Clinton since his victory in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses. Clinton edged Obama in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.
Clinton led with 42 percent of those polled, followed by Obama with 37 percent. Edwards trailed with 11 percent.
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