The three Democratic candidates for the presidency have moved to end the troubling row over race which threatened to dominate the coming weeks of an election campaign that has suddenly turned nasty.
During a televised debate in Las Vegas, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards were repeatedly asked by their supporters about racial mud-slinging, but kept to the higher ground and declined to engage.
"Neither race nor gender should be a part of this campaign," said Mrs Clinton, who first upped the ante by criticising Mr Obama for speeches in which he invoked the legacy of Martin Luther King. "I know John and Hillary have always been committed to racial equality," said Mr Obama who has gone out of his way to avoid mentioning race, whereas Mrs Clinton often discusses becoming America's first woman president.
Some doubt, however, that the genie of race can be put back in the bottle. Dick Morris, a former adviser to the Bill Clinton White House, said the worst was yet to come. He blamed Mrs Clinton for playing the race card in the first place and made his own prediction: "As Super Tuesday nears, the Clintons will likely take their campaign to a new level, charging that Obama cannot win. They will never cite his skin colour in this formulation, but it will be obvious to all voters what they mean: that a black cannot get elected."
Anyone wnat to take a bet that the Republicans cannot resist race and/or gender baiting? The last refugee of the mendacious.
A friend asked the other night whether I was for Obama or Clinton. I am favoring Obama but think any of three - Obama, Clinton or Edwards - would do a good job. A better job would come from harnessing all three of them.
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