Democratic Candidates Honor Martin Luther King in South Carolina

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: NYT/AP

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 21, 2008

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- The Democratic presidential contenders spoke warmly of Martin Luther King Jr. -- and sometimes of each other, too -- on Monday's national holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader. In a ceremony on the steps of the state Capitol, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards addressed an annual King Day rally sponsored by the NAACP. Five days before South Carolina's primary, the first this year in which black voters will play a significant role, thousands of people stood shivering in the cold to hear the speeches. Many held signs in support of one or another of the candidates.

Obama won the loudest and most enthusiastic reception, but Clinton and Edwards were also warmly welcomed. Polls show the Illinois senator leading the field in South Carolina, a state he needs to win to remain a co-frontrunner with Clinton after losing contests in Nevada and New Hampshire. Edwards has also staked his fading hopes on South Carolina, the state where he was born and whose primary he won in 2004....

At the rally, Obama acknowledged his ''outstanding competitors'' but also bemoaned the divisiveness he says has tainted the presidential contest. ''Every day our politics fuels and exploits divisions across races and region, across gender and party,'' he said. ''It's played out on television, it's sensationalized in the media, and it's crept into the presidential campaign in a way that serves to obscure the issues.''

Clinton recalled hearing King speak in Chicago when she was a teenager, and implored voters to realize his vision of racial and economic equality by voting in Saturday's primary. ''The dream is nowhere fulfilled,'' she said. ''Now we are called to rise up, speak up and finally get it done.'' Clinton and Edwards both also praised Obama's pioneering candidacy. ''To be able to be on the stage in my native state with an extraordinary and talented young man who's running for the presidency of the United States and is African-American makes me so proud of my state,'' Edwards said....

The morning began with a six-block march to the Capitol. All three candidates had been expected to participate, but Clinton and Edwards missed it. Obama was loudly cheered as he made his way through the crowd.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-King-Democrats.html

[rodeodance]

1. Hillary commemorates MLK Day

Source: nbc





Hillary commemorates MLK Day
Posted: Monday, January 21, 2008 3:29 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: 2008, Clinton

From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
COLUMBIA, SC -- At an event commemorating MLK Day, held on the steps of a statehouse in front of which the Confederate Flag still flies, Clinton spoke about King's legacy and the need to continue the struggle to fulfill his dream. She kept the focus on work and action.

The New York senator also debuted what sounded like a new slogan, urging everyone who can vote to come out and do so, repeating several times some variation of the phrase, "It is time to stand up, speak out, act and vote."

She received a warm reception from an energized crowd in which several dozen people held up Clinton signs. As all of the candidates have done recently, she highlighted the historic nature of this race and praised her rivals, calling Obama an "extraordinary, young African-American man with so much to contribute" and calling Edwards a "son of the South, in fact a son of South Carolina."

Clinton spoke last and the longest, packing a lot of content into her 10-minute remarks. She continued to use two biblical references heard in recent days in speeches at black churches in California and New York. Telling the mostly black audience that people "cannot just be hearers of the word, we must be doers" and "faith without works is dead." Both of them fit into the talk-vs.-action theme she introduced in New Hampshire to try to draw a distinction between herself and her two rivals. In what sounded like a new play on that theme, Clinton said part of Dr. King's mission was to inspire people to action.

Read more: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/01/21/595961.aspx