CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Mary Mitchell :: Bill Clinton is Hillary's best bet to bridging her racial divide

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Mary Mitchell :: Bill Clinton is Hillary's best bet to bridging her racial divide: "Bill Clinton is Hillary's best bet to bridging her racial divide March 4, 2007 BY MARY MITCHELL Sun-Times Columnist When Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton shows up in Selma, she won't have to talk about race. All Clinton has to do is cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge -- the infamous site of the showdown between disenfranchised voters and state troopers -- on the arm of former President Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton, who was dubbed by Toni Morrison as the 'first black president,' is still hugely popular with African Americans. His presence in Selma on Sunday is designed to stop the flow of black support to Sen. Barack Obama. A national poll initially had Hillary Clinton leading among black voters 60 percent to Obama's 20 percent. But less than one month after his official announcement, Obama has cut that lead down significantly -- 44 percent to 30 percent, according to an ABC News/ Washington Post poll released last week. But for the most part, Hillary Clinton's approach to prickly racial issues mirrors the way white people in America generally handle race. She doesn't talk about it. Few people expect her to talk about it, and unless she stumbles over a racial minefield, no one asks her to talk about it."