Clinton backer quits over 145;racist146; remark

Ferraro, the trailblazing 1984 Democratic vice presidential candidate, was a member of Clinton8217;s finance committee and raised funds for the New York senator and former first lady before stepping down, a campaign spokesman said.

Clinton, who is married to former President Bill Clinton and would be the first woman US president, said she deeply regrets Ferraro8217;s comments.

8220;I said yesterday that I rejected what she said and I certainly do repudiate it,8221; Clinton said at a meeting of black newspaper publishers in Washington. 8220;Obviously, she doesn8217;t speak for the campaign, she doesn8217;t speak for any of my positions and she has resigned from being a member of my very large finance committee.8221;

Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, denounced Ferraro8217;s comments as he made a campaign appearance in Chicago on Wednesday but said he did not think they were intended to be racist.

8220;I think that her comments were ridiculous. I think they were wrong-headed,8221; Obama told a news conference after being endorsed by a group of high-ranking retired military officers.

8220;The notion that it is of great advantage to me to be an African American named Barack Obama and pursue the presidency, I think, is not a view that has been commonly shared by the general public,8221; he said.

Obama, who has built up a strong lead in the state-by-state contests for the Democratic nomination to face Republican John McCain, denied Ferraro8217;s charge that his campaign repeatedly responded to criticism by saying it was racially motivated.

8220;I8217;m always hesitant to throw around words like racist because I don8217;t think she intended them that way,8221; he said.

The former congresswoman ignited the flap when she told a California newspaper that 8220;if Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position.8221;

8220;And if he was a woman he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept,8221; she said. Asked whether Ferraro8217;s comment was racist, Eric McDaniel, a political science professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said there no way to clearly define what is racist. In this case, he said the comments were an insult. 8220;It8217;s an unfortunate comment and kind of an offensive comment because what she is doing, in many ways, is framing Obama as the 8216;affirmative action8217; candidate,8221; he said, referring to policies aimed at helping minorities.

Ferraro defended her comments on Wednesday in a round of TV appearances.