SUPPORTERS of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama toned down their rhetoric yesterday on concerns that party infighting might turn voters against Democrats and deliver their votes into the hands of the Republican presidential candidate, John McCain.
All over the Sunday TV talk show circuit, journalists tried to get campaigners working for Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama to attack the other side, but time and again the supporters refused to take the bait and tried to stay on the high road.
"If this
party breaks apart, then clearly we'll probably pull defeat from the jaws of victory," said Leon Panetta, said on CBS's Face the Nation. Mr Panetta was chief of staff during Bill Clinton's presidency.
Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama took the day off after telling their campaign teams last week to tone down the language in the race to win the party's nomination for the November presidential election.
Democrats were still being questioned about remarks by Geraldine Ferraro, who supports Mrs Clinton, and Jeremiah Wright, Mr Obama's pastor, that many considered inappropriate. Last week, Ms Ferraro, the 1984 vice-presidential candidate, resigned from Mrs Clinton's campaign after saying that Mr Obama's success was due to his race. Mr Obama refused to condemn those comments as racist because he said they were not meant that way.
In a sermon late last year, Mr Wright, who is black, talked about why he believed voters would support Mrs Clinton over Mr Obama. "Barack knows what it means to be a black man living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich, white people," Mr Wright said.
"Hillary! Hillary can never know that. Hillary has never been called a n****r."
Both candidates have disavowed the statements.
The full article contains 297 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
