Ferraro quits Clinton campaign over remarks row

Washington: Former Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro resigned on Wednesday from Senator Hillary Clinton's finance committee after her suggestion that Sen Barack Obama is where he is politically because he is black touched off a renewed round of charges that Clinton's allies are injecting race into the campaign.

Ferraro, a former New York congresswoman and the first woman to run on a major-party ticket, did not apologise for her comments but said that she was resigning because "the Obama campaign is attacking me to hurt you" and that she would not let that happen.

In an appearance on Wednesday night before the National Newspaper Publishers Association, which represents more than 200 black community newspapers, Clinton was asked whether she has "done enough to send a message that these kinds of insensitive comments will not be tolerated".

Clinton replied that "I certainly do repudiate" the remarks. "She doesn't speak for the campaign," she said of Ferraro. "She has resigned from being a member of my very large finance team."

Clinton distanced herself from Ferraro on Tuesday after the comments, implicitly linking her comments to those of Samantha Powers, an Obama aide who called Clinton a "monster" and then resigned.

Racial hues

Obama frustrated

Barack Obama expressed frustration that racial issues keep rising to the top of his battle with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, but he said the great majority of voters will base their decisions on substantive issues.

At a news conference on Wednesday, Obama said he feels his primary victories in an array of states have proven he can draw support from all races and regions, and that he is not overly reliant on black voters.

"We keep on thinking we've dispelled this," he said.

"And it keeps on getting raised once again."

In handily winning Tuesday's Mississippi primary, Obama took about 90 per cent of the black vote and 30 per cent of the white vote, according to exit polls. Similar results in other Deep South states have raised questions of whether Obama's strong black support is nudging some white Democrats into Clinton's column.

Analysts say a similar pattern could emerge in Pennsylvania, the next primary, on April 22.