Clinton remarks create new flap

BRANDON, S.D. — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton defended staying in the Democratic nominating contest Friday by pointing out that her husband did not wrap up the nomination until June 1992 and that "We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California."

Her remarks were met with quick criticism from the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. Within hours of making them, Clinton, of New York, expressed regret, saying, "The Kennedys have been much on my mind the last days because of Sen. Kennedy," referring to the recent diagnosis of Sen. Edward Kennedy's brain tumor.

She added, "And I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation and particularly for the Kennedy family was in any way offensive."

Still, the comments touched on one of the most sensitive aspects of the current presidential campaign: concern for Obama's safety. And they come as Democrats have been talking increasingly of an Obama-Clinton ticket, with even Bill Clinton musing with associates about the possibility that running as vice president might be his wife's best path to the presidency if she loses the nomination fight.

It was in the context of discussions about her political future that Clinton made the remarks Friday, in a meeting with the editorial board of The Sioux Falls (S.D.) Argus Leader. She had said some people whom she did not name were trying to push her out of the race, but she noted that many races have gone on longer than hers.

"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it," Clinton said, dismissing the idea of dropping out.

Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, said her statement "was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign."

Concerns about Obama's safety led the Secret Service to give him protection last May, before it was given any other presidential candidate, although Clinton had protection in her capacity as former first lady. His wife, Michelle, voiced concerns about his safety before he was elected to the Senate, and black voters have said such fears weighed on their decision about whether to vote for him.

It was against that backdrop that Clinton's mentioning the 1968 Kennedy assassination in the same breath as her own political fate struck some as reckless. Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, an uncommitted superdelegate and the House Democratic whip, through a spokeswoman, called them "beyond the pale."

The remarks and resulting reaction illustrated the new tableaux candidates are coping with in this year's campaign, where Obama's remarks about "bitter" small-town voters ricocheted around the Internet and hobbled his campaign before the Pennsylvania primary.

During the editorial-board meeting Friday, Clinton also denied reports of any contact with the Obama camp regarding an exit strategy for her, or discussions about becoming Obama's running mate.

"It's flatly, completely untrue," she said. "It's not anything I'm entertaining, nothing I have planned, nothing I'm prepared to engaged in."

Friday's remarks were not the first time Clinton alluded to Robert F. Kennedy's slaying in such a context. She did so in a March interview with Time magazine, saying: "Primary contests used to last a lot longer. We all remember the great tragedy of Bobby Kennedy being assassinated in June in L.A."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has endorsed Clinton, defended her remarks in a telephone interview Friday evening.

"I've heard her make that argument before," Kennedy said. "It sounds like she was invoking a familiar historical circumstance in support of her argument for continuing her campaign."