WRAPUP 1-Clinton, Obama backers tone down rhetoric
WASHINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) - Backers of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama toned down their rhetoric on Sunday for fear party infighting might turn voters against Democrats and deliver their votes into the hands of Republican John McCain.
All over the Sunday TV talk show circuit, journalists tried to get campaigners working for Clinton and Obama to attack the other side, but time and time again the supporters would not 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," Leon Panetta, who was President Bill Clinton's chief of staff, said on CBS's "Face the Nation."
Clinton and Obama took the day off after telling their campaigns last week to tone down the language in the race to win the party's nomination for the November election.
The man either of them will face in November, Republican candidate John McCain, was in Baghdad. With no Republican competition, the Arizona senator was able to take trips such as this to bolster his foreign policy credentials.
Democrats had no such luxury. They were still being questioned about remarks made by Clinton supporter Geraldine Ferraro and Obama's pastor Jeremiah Wright that many considered inappropriate. Clinton, a New York senator, and Obama, an Illinois senator, have disavowed the statements and their supporters wanted to avoid discussing the comments.
Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, an Obama supporter, told "Fox News Sunday" his candidate had repudiated Wright's remarks damning America and "guilt by association here is something we've got to stay away from in this country."
An effort to get Sen. Charles Schumer of New York to go on the attack over the issue failed when he responded, "I agree with Chris here. Look, each campaign is wide-ranging. Supporters are all over the place."
Dodd returned the favor after Schumer was asked to explain Ferraro's comments that were considered racially insensitive. Schumer said the remarks were wrong and she had left the campaign.
"I agree with that as well," Dodd responded. "We can spend our time talking about Geraldine Ferraro and Jeremiah Wright, but the issues are -- is where does Barack Obama stand."
NEW TONE
Whether the new tone would have a lasting impact after an increasingly bitter campaign during the past few weeks is unknown. The candidates had pledged a new atmosphere only to resume their harsh attacks on Saturday.
Democrats still have more than five weeks until their next nominating event in Pennsylvania on April 22 so the unpredictable campaign could take many more twists and turns.
Nine more contests follow but after those it is still impossible for either Obama or Clinton to have enough pledged delegates to be nominated for president at the party's convention in August.
Obama, who would become the first black U.S. president, claimed he picked up 10 more delegates in Iowa on Saturday to add to his lead in pledged delegates, which now is around 150.
Democrats must figure out what to do about Michigan and Florida, two big states that held primaries that do not count since they violated party rules. Officials in both states and at the national party were working on ways to seat those states at the convention but so far have not reach agreement.
And then there is the issue of "superdelegates" -- those delegates who are beholding to no one and can vote any way they want. Obama said they should vote for the person leading in delegates and states won -- him -- while Clinton said they should be free to vote for the one -- her -- with the best chance to beat McCain.
McCain, a former Navy pilot and prisoner of war in Vietnam, was due to meet Iraqi leaders and U.S. officials in Baghdad as part of what his campaign calls a nonpolitical fact-finding mission for the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Still his meetings with leaders in the Mideast and France and Britain were certain to be used by his campaign to bolster his image as the man best ready to lead the United States and give those foreign leaders a chance to evaluate him.
(Editing by Jackie Frank)
(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)
