Clinton, Obama Call Truce In Their Race- Tainted Primary Campaigns
BY JOHN TOSCANO

Amid growing rancor and bitterness between rival Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, Clinton took the first step in defusing the racially explosive situation by calling for a truce on Monday.

Amid growing rancor and bitterness between rival Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, Clinton took the first step in defusing the racially explosive situation by calling for a truce on Monday.

Obama later followed suit by also urging a truce to avoid dividing the party.

But some bickering continued as Congressmember Charles Rangel, the most prominent of Harlem Democrats, said in an interview reported in the New York Times that Obama had started the whole fuss.

"How race got into this thing is because Obama said 'race'," Rangel declared. "I would challenge anybody to belittle the contribution that Dr. King has made to the world, to our country, to civil rights and the Voting Rights Act.

"But for [Obama] to suggest that Dr. King could have signed that act is absolutely stupid."

Rangel's reference got back to the root cause of the racially charged brawl. Clinton had said several days before at a campaign stop that President Lyndon B. Johnson had guided the 1964 Civil Rights Act through Congress and signed it after it was passed, enacting what had been King's main priority.

But Obama supporters, including influential South Carolina Congressmember James E. Clyburn, felt Clinton's remarks minimized King's work.

Rangel again took a swipe at Obama, saying it was "absolutely stupid" to call Clinton's original remark illadvised, although she had quickly apologized for it.

Meanwhile, Obama had said in joining in the call for the truce that both Bill and Hillary Clinton had "historically and consistently been on the right side of civil rights issues".

Responding, Clinton stated that "bickering does not reflect what is in our hearts. We must seek common ground."

Meanwhile, the next headto head skirmish between Clinton, Obama and John Edwards was to take place last night in Michigan. Then on Saturday, January 19, they are set to compete in the Nevada primary.

In Michigan, there is really no contest because National Democratic Party officials stripped the state of its delegates for moving the primary to an earlier date without authorization.

However, Clinton chose to remain on the ballot while Obama and Edwards urged voters to stay uncommitted.

In Nevada, the latest poll shows the three main candidates together with Obama at 32 percent, Clinton at 30 percent and Edwards at 27 percent. It's a toss up, with 33 delegates at stake.

As she campaigned, Clinton charged that Obama had brought up the controversy over King. He denied the allegation and called it ludicrous.

Otherwise, Clinton and Obama have been courting the Hispanic vote as they campaigned with culinary workers as their target.

Looking beyond Nevada, the next Democratic primary is set for Saturday, January 26 in South Carolina. There the main voting bloc targeted is the state's black voters, who make up 50 percent of the likely primary voters.

With Clinton and Obama locked in a tight race following their respective victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, both are campaigning strenuously for the South Carolina black vote. Clinton had a good grip on it before the first two contest, but Obama now is more attractive to black voters because they feel he has a realistic chance of becoming the first black person to be nominated for president of the United States.