ISSUE: Fallout from Clinton's remarks

OUR VIEW: Race, gender may be issues, but debate should be on higher plain

The controversy swirling around Sen. Hillary Clinton's remarks about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. indicates the presidential campaign is getting uglier -- and race as a political issue is playing too big a role.

Clinton's assessment that King's dream of racial equality came about only when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has prompted criticism from some black leaders and her competitors, Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards. It's all about political advantage as the Democratic race moves toward critical votes in the coming weeks.

Clinton surely did not mean the words as a slight to King, whose efforts she has referenced often during her political career. She and husband Bill Clinton long have been praised as battlers for civil rights when many other whites in the South were not taking similar stands.

No doubt, King's leadership of the civil rights movement was critical in breaking down barriers that led to the federal government declaring segregation and lack of rights for minorities remnants of the past. And indeed Johnson did play a key role in advancing civil rights. Without him, King's efforts likely would not have paid off as rapidly.

Clinton blames the Obama campaign for making much of her words, going so far as to allege that her opponent has been sifting through speeches in search of words that could be called racially insensitive.

Obama has responded by saying the comments about King were ill-advised and unfortunate, a way of keeping the issue in the news.

Edwards has done much the same, saying Sunday, "I must say that I was troubled recently to see a suggestion that real change ... came not through the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King but through a Washington politician. I fundamentally disagree with that." He was addressing the audience at a predominantly black church, looking to score points for the South Carolina primary at the expense of Clinton.

But Clinton's campaign is not without its use of the race issue, despite the candidate saying Sunday: "I don't think this campaign is about gender, and I sure hope it's not about race."

On the same day BET founder Bob Johnson, during a South Carolina appearance for Clinton, said he was insulted the Obama camp would try to paint the Clintons as anything but longtime advocates for civil rights. But he didn't stop there, referencing the Clintons' work while Obama "was doing something in the neighborhood. I won't say what he was doing, but he said it in his book." The reference was a backhanded way of focusing on Obama's admission in his book that he used cocaine as a younger man.

With Obama an African-American showing great across-the-board electoral strength and Clinton a candidate given the best shot ever of becoming the nation's first female president, it may be inevitable race and gender will play a role in the campaign debate. Whether in South Carolina, where half of the Democratic primary voters on Jan. 26 are expected to be African-American, or any other state, the hope is the debate can be on a higher plain than what has been taking place in recent days.

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