Clinton, Obama step back from race flap

updated 11:07 p.m. ET Jan. 14, 2008

Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama stepped back from a controversy over race Monday night, agreeing that a prolonged clash over civil rights could harm their party's overall drive to win the White House.

The two leading Democratic contenders shifted course as Republicans pointed toward Tuesday's pivotal primary in Michigan, where Mitt Romney and John McCain both pledged to lead a revival for a state and an auto industry ravaged by recession.

Obama was the first to suggest a cooling of the rhetoric on race, calling reporters together to say he didn't want the campaign "to degenerate into so much tit-for-tat, back-and-forth that we lose sight of why all of us are doing this."

Referring to Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards, he said that while they may have disagreements, "we share the same goals. We're all Democrats, we all believe in civil rights, we all believe in equal rights."

Clinton's campaign issued a statement in the same vein about an hour after Obama spoke, saying it was time to seek common ground. "And in that spirit, let's come together, because I want more than anything else to ensure that our family stays together on the front lines of the struggle to expand rights for all Americans," she said.

Strikingly, though, one of Clinton's supporters, New York Rep. Charles Rangel, was sharply critical of Obama in an interview during the day. "How race got into this thing is because Obama said 'race,'" Rangel, the dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, said on television station NY1.

For all the maneuvering, Democrats are without a contested election on Tuesday.

High stakes for Republicans in Michigan
That was in contrast to the Republican campaign, where McCain and Romney battled in a Michigan primary that neither could afford to lose.

"I will not rest until Michigan is back," said Romney, a native son who jabbed at his rival for saying many jobs among the thousands lost will never return.

"We will create new jobs," insisted McCain, who also favors improvements in federal programs for laid-off workers. "We have the innovation, the talent, the knowledge and the ability ... to regain Michigan's position as the best in the world."

Polls showed McCain and Romney in a close race, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee running third.

Of the three, Romney is most in need of a victory as he looks to restore at least some of the luster lost with defeats in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary. Several associates have suggested the former Massachusetts governor may quit the race unless he prevails.

McCain won the state's primary eight years ago on the strength of independent voters, and hopes for a reprise on Tuesday. He has regained the lead in the national polls that he enjoyed months ago — before his campaign nearly came apart over the summer.

Huckabee campaigned on economic issues during the day.

"Some of the toughest competition your company faces is from its own government, whose tax policies, whose regulatory policies, the threat of litigation, makes it real tough to stay in business," he told employees at a Demmer Corp. plant near Lansing that makes armored personnel carriers for the military.

Romney went before the Detroit Economic Club for a speech meant to appeal to laid-off workers as well as voters who recall his father's tenure as governor a generation ago.

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A former Massachusetts governor, Romney promised to convene a White House summit within 100 days of taking office to produce a solution to the auto industry's long-term slide.

McCain spoke constantly of the productivity of Michigan workers. "As president of the United States, I will herald a new day for Michigan," he said.

For much of the day, both Clinton and Obama seemed content to engage in increasingly accusatory campaign tactics.

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