Clinton To Attend Dr. King Event As Campaign for N.Y. Heats Up

Senator Clinton will be in the city today to attend a Martin Luther King Jr. birthday celebration amid an increasingly rancorous primary campaign in which the issue of race has been pushed to the fore.

Mrs. Clinton is scheduled to attend the Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ Martin Luther King Jr. birthday celebration. SEIU Local 1199, a health care union, and Local 32BJ, a property service workers union, have endorsed the New York senator.

Mrs. Clinton and her main rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Obama of Illinois, traded jabs yesterday, with the former first lady accusing Mr. Obama of "deliberately distorting" remarks she made about King's role in the passage of the Civil Rights Act and saying his campaign injected racial tension into the race.

"This is an unfortunate story line the Obama campaign has pushed very successfully," Mrs. Clinton said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Mr. Obama responded with a conference call to reporters in which he called Mrs. Clinton's remark about King "unfortunate." The executive director of the New York Civil Rights Coalition, Michael Meyers, said he believes that Mrs. Clinton remains the clear favorite to win the New York primary, but that her comments could come back to haunt her.

"Ironically, until she went negative black voters were supportive of Hillary," he said.

"But as we approach the Mr. King holiday, this could come to a boil in New York and in South Carolina," Mr. Meyers said.

Democrats in South Carolina will vote on January 26. The New York State primary will take place February 5.