Democratic Contenders, Kilpatrick Fight to Stay in Game

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CHERYL CORLEY, host:

I'm Cheryl Corley in for Michel Martin, and this is Tell Me More from NPR News. We're broadcasting from Chicago Public Radio. Coming up, we discuss African-Americans and Judaism. Plus, a Palestinian view of Israel's 60th anniversary.

But first, it's time for our political chat and our look back at political events of the week. Senator Hillary Clinton knocked Senator Barack Obama out in West Virginia's Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday, winning it by 41 points, and yet Senator Obama picked up some big endorsements. Former senator and presidential candidate John Edwards, NARAL, the National Abortion Rights Action League, and the United Steel Workers Union, all gave Obama their support.

In Israel, President Bush gives a speech and takes a perceived shot at Obama, and Senator John McCain uses two public policy issues to distance himself from President Bush. There's a lot going on and joining me in studio today is Chicago Sun Times columnist Mary Mitchell and Black Entertainment Television senior political producer and blogger Pamela Gentry is in our D.C. studios to sort through it all. Welcome to you both.

Ms. MARY MITCHELL (Chicago Sun Times Columnist): Thank you.

Ms. PAMELA GENTRY (BET Senior Political Producer): Thank you. Nice to be here.

CORLEY: Mary, let's start with you. Senator Obama suffered a big loss on Tuesday in West Virginia and yet it seems he has the momentum at the end of the week. So why do you think that's the case?

Ms. MITCHELL: Well, because it was - as far as Hillary Clinton is concerned, it was too little too late. It may have been a big win for her, but the contest in most people's minds is already over. People are moving on to the general election. Barack Obama's started to talk about the general election, and you know, he wasn't even competitive in West Virginia. I think he really looked at the numbers and looked at the demographics and realized that these so-called blue-collar workers that Hillary Clinton has been able to attract, that he would not win them over and because the numbers were on his side overall, he just moved on. So it was not a big - it was symbolic. It was good for Hillary Clinton, but that doesn't mean it was bad for Barack Obama.

CORLEY: OK. I'm going to get back to you on that in just a minute. But yesterday, Pamela, President Bush seemed to enter the fray of the presidential race. We're going to play a little clip. Here's what he had to say during his speech at the Knesset in Israel.

President GEORGE W. BUSH: Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We've heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared, Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided. We have an obligation to call this what it is: the false comfort of appeasement which has been repeatedly discredited by history.

CORLEY: You know, lots of people perceive the president's comments as a not-so-subtle attack on Senator Obama since in the past he said that he would meet with leaders of countries like Iran and Syria. Pamela, is this a sign of what's coming for the Obama campaign?

Ms. GENTRY: Oh definitely. And it's really true to form because it shows that obviously Senator Barack Obama is the frontrunner because the Republicans have decided they better start going after him. And when you attract the leadership it means - it definitely means that you're out there in front. But you know, the Obama campaign, again, is very quick. They were very quick to respond. They put out a statement immediately saying that if you are talking about me, that's not what I said, and you're misrepresenting it. And then he pulled in two endorsements from very highly respected members of Congress who are also Jewish, Waxman from California. I think both of the gentlemen from California. So he fought back and he fought back quickly.

CORLEY: Senator Obama, Mary called this - the president's comments politics of fear, but do you think? Is Senator Obama vulnerable in the foreign policy area?

Ms. MITCHELL: Well, yes, he is vulnerable because of course he does not have the kind of experience that a John McCain for instance. He's been in - on the national stage longer. He's a war hero, so I bet that's going to be a place that they try to attack him. But the other thing is, because of his belief of negotiating, that you can negotiate with your enemies, that you can sit down around a table and talk to them before we get to the point of, you know, either sanctions or any of those other things. And here's what I find most interesting about President Bush's comments yesterday is that he uses - he's beginning to focus in on Barack Obama. The Republicans are focusing in on him and that just again, overshadows Clinton. It just - her campaign for all practical purposes in everyone's mind is over.

CORLEY: Well, let's stick to the Republican in this race, Senator John McCain. He had two very high profile breaks from the president this week on two issues, global warming and on how Hurricane Katrina was handled. Pamela, how do you think Senator McCain and the congressional Republicans are going to handle the Bush presidency this fall?

Ms. GENTRY: Well, I think that, you know, Senator McCain has tried desperately to separate himself from President Bush because the Democrats are running that, you know, if you vote for McCain you're going to continue the Bush legacy, but the problem yesterday in particular, he gave this great speech about what he would do as president and then really he got kicked below the fold by President Bush in his Knesset remarks. So, you know, the Republicans are struggling. They are trying to get some unity.

Even with the war vote yesterday they ended up almost defeating themselves in trying to get a lot of press out of that in voting against, you know, I'm sure we talked about this, but they kind of voted present instead of voting for or against this war funding bill. And again they pushed McCain out of the headlines. He's had a hard time throughout this race getting himself to be page one and the lead story. And if you look at how his campaign has been covered, he is definitely struggling and even Bob Barr, I mean I can name five things that have gone negative for him than positive. But he is trying to separate himself from Bush, but I don't think he's succeeding.

CORLEY: Mary, is this going to change like after the convention is all over are we going to see...

Ms. MITCHELL: Well, after - it's going to change when Senator Clinton gets out of the race, OK? I mean, you know, because now - really I'm not trying to push her out the door. I'm just saying that whenever you have - you have so much going on between Senator Clinton and Senator Obama that there's no room on the stage for John McCain right now. So he is getting the leavings, and he cannot command the headlines because the headlines are still on - now what's the story now? When is she going to go? You know, that's the story now.

So I think that as soon as she's off the stage then the press will start concentrating a little bit more on McCain which, you know, in all fairness, the press needs to be concentrating on McCain. We have a clear picture - an emerging picture of Senator Barack Obama and what his policies will be, what his strengths are, what his weaknesses are, we have no clear picture right now of John McCain.

CORLEY: Well, if you're joining us now, you're listening to Tell Me More from NPR News. I'm Cheryl Corley and I'm talking with Pamela Gentry from Black Entertainment Television and Mary Mitchell with the Chicago Sun Times about the week in politics. Let's talk about racism on the campaign trail. Mary, your column yesterday addressed the issue and you had some specific thoughts for Senator Clinton. Tell us a little bit about that.

Ms. MITCHELL: Well, for a long time in a campaign, Barack Obama stayed away from the issue of race. It did not really come up in any real way until the controversy over Jeremiah Wright. Meanwhile, Senator Clinton has been able to exploit, I think, the fears of some whites, not all, but whites who are in the working blue-collar class, whites who may have a minimal education, not listening to NPR probably and getting the full story on things.

CORLEY: Maybe.

Ms. MITCHELL: Maybe. Yeah. So, that class, she's been able to exploit and she used these code words and the media bought into these code words of blue-collar workers and what they really mean are white people. You know, just say it, whites of a certain economic class are backing Hillary Clinton. Well, that's very divisive, and it's divisive in a way that at the end of the day these voters are saying, many of them that they will not vote for, if she loses the race they will not vote for Barack Obama. They will cross over to John McCain. If that should happen - if that should happen, not only will it be terrible for the Democratic Party, but overall black people who have been the base of the Democratic Party, will, I think, feel very betrayed by the party and they would likely - many of them would likely stay home themselves in the fall.

CORLEY: You believe that?

Ms. MITCHELL: I believe that. I talked with so many people who say, you know what, if Barack Obama is cheated out of this campaign in some way - superdelegates, some slight of hand, some backdoor, you know, cigar room filled, you know, deal - that they would not go out and vote. That would be horrible for the Democratic Party.

CORLEY: And Pam, why do you think people seem surprised that there are folks who wouldn't vote for Barack Obama because he is a black man?

Ms. GENTRY: Well, I'm not surprised by it, but I think there are people who wouldn't vote for almost any candidate in some preference or prejudice. But I think that what they haven't done, and this has been confusing me, is that no one actually gives any credit for the fact that he's biracial and that he has a white mother. So it's almost as if that has been ignored and, you know, and they don't - when I say they don't give her credit I mean she - this is a woman who raised a little black boy in the 1960s whose maternal grandparents raised him the rest, you know, into adulthood, and they seemed to kind of discount it as if he's not one of them.

And I think that that's something that has been ignored, but I do think that as a candidate he has transcended that, but it's not going to be in certain communities regardless of who he is or what he says or how he does it - they're just not going to vote for him, and they can't do it in good conscience, and I think he'll survive without that vote. But I do want to agree with Mary on one thing and that is if in fact he is cheated in any way, or it appears to be that he is cheated out of this nomination, I think that not only black voters may stay home, I think the young voters that he's brought in under the age of 45, the largest number in 40 years to the Democratic Party, they may decide, well maybe this process doesn't work, and they can't afford to lose those under - those 20 and 30-something voters who have decided to become Democrats. That could be the end of the party.

CORLEY: Well, we only have about 30 seconds left, so Mary Mitchell, let me give it to you since your column specifically talks about Senator Clinton, I'm going to put you on the spot. Do you care to predict if or when Senator Clinton will actually end her presidential campaign?

Ms. MITCHELL: Oh, she's riding it all the way to the - Puerto Rico at least. She'll stay in through Puerto Rico.

CORLEY: OK. You think so too, Pam?

Ms. GENTRY: Oh definitely, she's going to stay there.

CORLEY: All right. Chicago Sun Times columnist Mary Mitchell and Black Entertainment Television senior political producer and blogger Pamela Gentry, thank you both for joining me today.

Ms. GENTRY: Thank you.

Ms. MITCHELL: It was a pleasure.

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