OpEdNews - Page 2 of Article: Can Democrats Unite Behind Obama After Bruising Primary Campaign with Clinton?

"There have been signals coming out of the Clinton campaign that have racial overtones that indeed disturb me," Andrews told the newspaper at his campaign headquarters in Cherry Hill, N.J. Tuesday night after he lost his primary bid for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat against incumbent Frank Lautenberg.

"Frankly, I had a private conversation with a high-ranking person in the campaign ... that used a racial line of argument that I found very disconcerting," Andrews said. "It was extremely disconcerting given the rank of this person. It was very disturbing."

Andrews told The Star-Ledger that he received the telephone call after he angered the Clinton camp by making some positive comments about Obama. He would not disclose the caller's name because of the private nature of the conversation.

A Clinton campaign spokesman issued an angry response to Andrews, who once had the task of lobbying other members of Congress to support her. "Comments like these, coming so soon after Congressman Andrews' crushing defeat, are sad and divisive," Clinton's chief national spokesman, Phil Singer, told the newspaper.

But Andrews stood firmly by his statements and added, "I would hope that all Democrats can put this divisiveness behind them. I'm glad the Clinton campaign is finally about to change its tone." He said he made his comments only after his primary loss to Lautenberg because "I didn't want people to think I was trying to win over Obama supporters in the primary."

The Obama camp declined to comment.

Obama Perceived as Weak with Jewish Voters, But New Poll Says Otherwise

In the April 22 primary in Pennsylvania, Clinton drubbed Obama among Jewish voters there, with exit polls showed her winning 62 percent of Jewish voter to Obama's 38 percent, suggesting that Obama was no longer competitive with the former first lady among Jews.

Pundits ascribed Obama's perceived weakness among Jews to revelations in March of his former pastor, the now-retired Reverend Jeremiah Wright Jr.'s inflammatory black-nationalist rhetoric -- including his occasional broadsides against Israel and its American Jewish supporters.

But a new Gallup poll shows Obama once again competitive among Jewish voters. In the general-election match-up with McCain, according to the poll, Obama would pull 61 percent of Jewish voters, compared to McCain's 32 percent.

The poll's margin of error was plus or minus four percent.

Obama, speaking at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual policy conference in Washington on Wednesday, drew several standing ovations from the mostly Jewish crowd after he talked tough on the Iranian threat to Israel while also promising that he would lead in pursuing a peace settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

“I won’t wait until the waning days of my presidency,” Obama said, in a swipe at President Bush. “I will take an active role and make a personal commitment to do all I can to advance the cause of peace from the start of my administration.”

As president, he added, “I will work to help Israel achieve the goal of two states, a Jewish state of Israel and a Palestinian state, living side by side in peace and security.”

Obama-Clinton Ticket May Be Impossible to Forge

Friends and associates said they fully expected Clinton to throw herself into campaigning for Obama, though she will also work strenuously to thank her own supporters, donors and staff members (she has already hand-written several notes of gratitude). But speculation remained rife on Sunday on the possibility of the former first lady becoming Obama's vice-presidential running mate.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4