1OA - Thursday, March 13, 2008

Clinton apologizes for Ferraro's comment about race

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton did something yesterday
night that she almost never does.
She apologized.
And once she started, she didn't seem
able to stop.
The New York senator, who is in a tight
race with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for
the Democratic presidential nomination,
struck several sorry notes at an evening
forum sponsored by the National News-
paper Publishers Association, a group of
more than 200 black community newspa-
pers across the country.
Her biggest apology came in response
to a question about comments by her
husband, Bill Clinton, after the South
Carolina primary, which Obama won
handily.
Bill Clinton said Jesse Jackson also
won South Carolina when he ran for
president in 1984 and 1988, a comment
many viewed as belittling Obama's suc-
cess.
"I want to put that in context. You know
I am sorry if anyone was offended. It was
certainly not meant in any way to be offen-
sive," Hillary Clinton said. "We can be

proud of both Jesse Jackson and Senator
Obama."
"Anyone who has followed my hus-
band's public life or my public life know
very well where we have stood and what
we have stood for and who we have stood
with," she said, acknowledging that who-
ever wins the nomination will have to
heal the wounds of a bruising, historic
contest.
"Once one of us has the nomination
there will be a great effort to unify the
Democratic party and we will do so,
because, remember I have a lot of support-
ers who have voted for me in very large
numbers and I would expect them to sup-
port Senator Obama if he were the nomi-
nee," she said.
The Clintons long have enjoyed over-
whelming support from black voters, but
that has been eclipsed during the pri-
maries and caucuses by enthusiasm and
support for Obama, who has pulled huge
margins among black voters. Arguments
over the role of race and gender have
flared up repeatedly throughout the con-
test between Obama, who would be the
nation's first black president, and Clinton,

who would be its first female one.
Earlier in the day, Hillary Clinton sup-
porter and fundraiser Geraldine Ferraro
gave up her honorary position with Clin-
ton's campaign after she said in an inter-
view last week that Obama would not have
made it this far if he were white. Obama
said Ferraro's remarks were "ridiculous"
and "wrong-headed."
Of Ferraro's comment, Hillary Clinton
told her audience: "I certainly do repudi-
ate it and I regret deeply that it was said.
Obviously she doesn't speak for the cam-
paign, she doesn't speak for any of my
positions, and she has resigned from being
a member of my very large finance com-
mittee."
As first lady and senator, Clinton rarely
cedes an inch to her critics. On the issue
of her vote to authorize the Iraq war, for
instance, she steadfastly has refused to
apologize, coming close by saying she
regrets it, despite calls from many anti-
war voters in the party to make a more
explicit mea culpa.
Her third conciliatory statement of the
evening was more in keeping with that
fighting stance.

DIAG
From Page IA
Felix said the prices cover not only the
equipment rental, but also the cost of labor
from the University's Plant Operations
Division, whose employees set up, moni-
tor, and take down the equipment.
The average event hosted by a student
group costs $333, he said.
LSA senior Lexi Mitter, who helped
organize the Cancer Awareness Week's
Diag Day, said donations of supplies, fund-
raising and funding from the Michigan
Student Assembly made holding the event
affordable. However, she said that they
would rather the hundreds of dollars they
pay the University go to charity.
Gutsue said scheduling was a problem
because when they register with SAL,
groups aren't told if any other groups are
organizing events for that same day. Gut-
sue said that when she inquired about
other activity on the Diag that day, Felix
wouldn't tell them.
When asked why, Felix cited privacy
issues.
"We don't reveal any student organiza-
tion information," he said.
To help prevent one event from over-

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
shadowing another, the University does
promote a "sharedspace protocol," which
asks event organizers to be considerate of
other groups on the Diag, Felix said.
According to LSA senior Stephanie
Somerman, the co-president of the Roos-
evelt Institution the University's policies
usually work well. She said her organi-
zation tries to use the Diag "as much as
humanly possible." But while most of their
events have gone smoothly, they have
encountered occasional difficulties shar-
ing space.
Once when they were gathering signa-
tures for a petition, she said that members
of the notoriously loud pro-affirmative
action group By Any Means Necessary
were holding a protest at the same time
"It was the worst thing ever," she said.
"It's really hard to get petitions signed
when people are running around yelling."
Though Gutsue and other group mem-
bers had planned yesterday's informa-
tion table as a one-time event, she said
they would schedule another Diag event
because of the disruption caused by
USAC's event.
"We think that if we do it again, we'll be
able to reach more students," she said.
If they're lucky, they won't have a moon-
walk in their way.


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