Racial overtones rumble in campaign

by Dave Keating | March 13, 2008 at 12:40 am

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This story appears to have broken through the blogs-and-cable-news barrier and has hit mainstream print and internet publications. The comments are particularly striking coming from Ferraro, the first female on a major party presidential ticket.

Although Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton insist the Democratic nominating contest should turn on issues such as health care and the economy, the role of race keeps pushing itself into the campaign.

On Wednesday, a close ally of Clinton's, Geraldine Ferraro, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee in 1984, gave up her fundraising role with the Clinton campaign after being criticized by Obama's advisers, among others, for her recent comments that "if Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position" as a leading presidential contender.

Ferraro remained unapologetic for citing Obama's race as the decisive factor in his success. Clinton, while calling Ferraro's remark regrettable, did not break with her.