Barack Obama, struggling to win over white Democratic voters, said in an television interview today that race would not be a factor in November's US presidential election.
"Is race still a factor in our society? Yes. I don't think anybody would deny that," Mr Obama, who would be the first black US president, said on "Fox News Sunday."
Barak Obama
"Is that going to be the determining factor in a general election? No, because I'm absolutely confident that the American people - what they're looking for is somebody who can solve their problems," the Illinois senator said in an interview taped yesterday.
Mr Obama and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton were focusing on Indiana, which along with North Carolina will be the next big tests on May 6th toward picking a presidential nominee to face Republican John McCain in November.
Mr Obama is leading MrsClinton in the popular vote, states won and committed delegates to the party's nominating convention in August, but her recent victories in Pennsylvania and Ohio have raised questions about his ability to win white voters.
In Pennsylvania, she won white union households and white Catholics - two key Democratic blocs - by about 70 per cent to Mr Obama's 30 per cent. About one in seven Pennsylvania voters said race was an issue and that group voted overwhelmingly
against Mr Obama.
Mr Obama said he had won many of those same voters in other states and after a Democratic nominee was decided, those voters would back the party's candidate against Mr McCain.
"I am confident that when you come to a general election, and we are having a debate about the future of this country - how are we going to lower gas prices, how are we going to deal with job losses, how are we going to focus on energy independence
- that those are voters who I will be able to appeal to," he said.
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"If I lose, it won't be because of race," Mr Obama said. "It will be because ... I made mistakes on the campaign trail, I wasn't communicating effectively my plans in terms of helping them in their everyday lives."
Howard Wolfson, Clinton's top campaign strategist, agreed the party will be united against the Republicans once there is a Democratic nominee. Some Democrats fear the current fight could cause a dangerous split in the fall.
"Both the Obama campaign and the Clinton campaign are absolutely committed to coming together at the conclusion of this process, coming behind whoever the nominee is, and enthusiastically supporting that person," he said on CBS's "Face The Nation."
Mr Obama's comments on race came as his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, began a series of public appearances to combat criticism of his controversial sermons that have, among other things, suggested the United States deserved some of the blame for the
September 11 attacks in 2001.
Mr Obama again denounced Wright's offensive comments but said, since he had a long relationship with the pastor, voters had a legitimate interest in his speeches.
"I don't think that the issue of Reverend Wright is illegitimate," Obama said. "I just think that the way it was reported was not ... a reflection of both that church that I attend and who I am."