Clinton, Obama Distance Selves From Talk of Race

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A Primary and a Debate

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney won Michigan's Republican presidential primary on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama participated in the MSNBC debate in Las Vegas.

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Obama, meanwhile, appeared Tuesday to take responsibility for a memo from his South Carolina press secretary that outlined verbal missteps on race by the Clintons and their allies. His campaign had not previously confirmed ownership. "It is my responsibility to make sure that we're setting a clear tone in our campaign, and I take that responsibility very seriously," Obama said.

Both candidates pointed to the role of surrogates in the spat and said they hope to put it behind them.

"We both have exuberance and sometimes uncontrollable supporters," Clinton said, adding that "neither race nor gender should be part of this campaign." Obama noted: "As Hillary said, our supporters, our staff get overzealous. They start saying things that I would not say."

The Democrats are competing vigorously for the 25 delegates at stake in Nevada and for what each hopes will prove to be additional momentum for their campaigns as they look toward South Carolina's Jan. 26 primary and the 22 contests spread across the country on Feb. 5.

Before Iowa and New Hampshire, Clinton had a big lead in polls taken of Democrats in Nevada. But Obama got a major boost late last week with the endorsement of the Culinary Workers Union, considered the most politically powerful labor organization in the state.

One of the sharpest exchanges Tuesday night came over energy policy, nuclear power and the local issue of whether the state's Yucca Mountain should have a national nuclear waste facility.

All three said they would not allow Yucca to become a nuclear waste site, but Clinton challenged both Obama and Edwards on the topic. She said Obama has received considerable money for his campaign from Exelon Corp., "which has spent millions trying to make Yucca Mountain the waste depository."

"I think it's a testimony to my commitment and opposition to Yucca Mountain that, despite the fact that my state has more nuclear power plants than any other state in the country, I've never supported Yucca Mountain," Obama said.

Even sharper differences emerged over the 2005 energy bill and the future of nuclear power. Obama was questioned by Russert on his vote in favor of the bill, asking whether he knew at the time that it would encourage the development of new nuclear power plants.

"I voted for it because it was the single largest investment in clean energy -- solar, wind, biodiesel -- that we had ever seen," he said.

Clinton hit Obama for supporting that bill, calling it "the Dick Cheney lobbyist energy bill. . . . It wasn't just the green light that it gave to more nuclear power. It had enormous giveaways to the oil and gas industries. . . . It was the wrong policy for America.

Edwards then criticized Clinton for taking money from those very interests. "You've raised more money from those people than any candidate, Democrat or Republican," he said. "I think we have to be able to take those people on if we're going to actually change our policy."

When the debate turned to the subject of Iraq, Clinton challenged Obama to co-sponsor legislation in the Senate aimed at preventing President Bush from locking in a long-term U.S. commitment in that country.

Obama reacted coolly. "I think we can work on this, Hillary," he said. He quickly added that he does not think Bush can "tie the hands of the next president," predicting that voters will make clear their displeasure with the administration's policies in November.

Just before the debate ended, Clinton returned to what has become an important theme of her candidacy.

She was asked by Williams whether she was engaging in the politics of fear through some of her campaign rhetoric. She said the United States faces a "dangerous adversary" and said, "I feel prepared and ready to take on what is a daunting but necessary responsibility."

But Obama pushed back, accusing Clinton of using "the fear of terrorism in scoring political points."