Bill Clinton in L.A. to drum up support for wife

Source: Xinhua | 02-04-2008 07:46

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton visited three Los Angeles-area churches on Sunday to drum up support for his wife Hillary's presidential bid.

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton kisses his wife, New York Senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton during a rally Jan. 25, 2008. (Xinhua/AFPPhoto)

Clinton's visit was widely seen as an attempt to dispel national press reports that these visits were aimed at repairing frayed relations with African-American voters.

At the City of Refuge Church in Gardena, Clinton told parishioners "I'm not against anybody," referring to Barack Obama but not mentioning him by name.

"I waited my whole life to vote for an African American for president, I waited my whole life to voter for a woman for president, and sometimes I look up to the sky and say 'God, you're playing with my mind again,'" Clinton said.

A spokesman for Hillary's presidential campaign disputed reports in the Washington Post and on CNN that Bill Clinton went to several of the largest local African-American congregations to explain remarks that he made in South Carolina, that had angered some black voters.

Clinton spokesman Luis Vizcaino said that for Bill Clinton, "going to black churches on a Sunday three days before an election is nothing unusual."

"The Clintons have always attended black churches, the Clintons have decades of relationships and of good relations with the African-American community," Vizcaino said.

Hillary's California spokesman downplayed reports in East Coast media that Los Angeles Congresswoman Diane Watson had brought Clinton to her South Los Angeles district to explain what happened in South Carolina.

A Washington Post Internet report on Sunday quoted Watson as saying "there will be no need for any kind of letter" from Clinton to black parishioners, a letter she said Friday was being drafted.

Watson reportedly called the Post to assert that Bill Clinton does not need to mend fences with black voters but would campaign "in true Bill Clinton fashion -- personally and verbally."

Bill Clinton is accused by some of using the "race card" by pointing out that Jesse Jackson won the South Carolina Democratic presidential primaries in 1984 and 1988, a comment interpreted as equating Barack Obama with Jackson, who was viewed as an unelectable candidate, especially among white voters.

Obama beat Hillary in South Carolina with 55 percent of the vote to her 27 percent.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei