Clinton struggles with loss of black support

By Caren Bohan - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - African Americans liked Bill Clinton so much that he was once dubbed "the first black president," but perceptions that his wife's campaigning has been racially tinged have taken a toll on Hillary Clinton's White House bid.

Some accuse Clinton's campaign of trying to cast her rival Barack Obama as a candidate of limited appeal in order to marginalize his candidacy and enhance her chances of winning the Democratic Party nomination.

Sen. Obama would be the first black president if he won the nomination and then defeated Republican John McCain in the November 4 national election. Obama is leading Sen. Clinton in the fight for delegates to the August convention.

Clinton would be the first woman president. But some black Americans have grown mistrustful of her campaign because of statements by her, her husband and other surrogates. African Americans make up 13 percent of the U.S. population.

Her suggestion of a "dream" ticket with Obama as her vice presidential running mate reminded some of the days when blacks, regarded as second-class citizens, were ordered to sit at the back of buses.

"No offense, but that is typical of a white person to offer you second place and say they'll take first place," trucker Jasper Clark, 53, said at a recent Obama rally in Jackson, Mississippi.

The mere mention of Clinton's name drew boos from that mostly black audience.

Obama discusses his life as the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya to highlight his message that the United States can move beyond racial divisions, but the issue keeps bubbling up.