OBAMA DENIES SNUB OF CLINTON

Senator Obama of Illinois is dismissing reports that he snubbed Senator Clinton by turning his back on her as lawmakers exchanged greetings before the State of the Union address Monday night. “I waved to her as I was coming into the Senate chamber before we walked over last night,” he said on his campaign plan yesterday, according to the Los Angeles Times. Mr. Obama said he turned away from Mrs. Clinton in the House chamber because he was being asked a question by Senator McCaskill of Missouri. “Senator Clinton and I have had very cordial relations off the floor and on the floor,” he said.

A top adviser, David Axelrod, may have muddied the waters by telling MSNBC earlier yesterday that Mr. Obama was trying to absent himself from a potentially uncomfortable exchange between Mrs. Clinton and Senator Kennedy, who endorsed Mr. Obama Monday. “I think there’s just a lot more tea leaf reading going on here than people are suggesting,” Mr. Obama said yesterday.

GUANTANAMO LAWYERS BACK OBAMA

Senator Obama has won an enthusiastic endorsement from about 90 attorneys who have brought lawsuits on behalf of war-on-terror prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. “We have worked closely with Senator Obama in the fight to preserve habeas corpus,” the lawyers wrote, touting his opposition to legislation which stripped federal courts of jurisdiction over habeas suits from individuals at Guantanamo. “Some politicians are all talk and no action. But we know from first-hand experience that Senator Obama has demonstrated extraordinary leadership on this critical and controversial issue,” the attorneys said, in a Web-posted statement which did not explain why they passed over Senator Clinton, who also voted to permit the suits. Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a former federal appeals court judge, John Gibbons, and a former independent counsel, Carol Bruce, were among those signing on with Mr. Obama.

PRESIDENT CLINTON SEEKS TO SOOTHE SHARPTON

Trying to tamp down anger over what some viewed as his race-related comments on the campaign trail, President Clinton spoke with a prominent New York civil rights activist yesterday, the Reverend Al Sharpton. Mr. Clinton “made the case that what he was saying was distorted,” Rev. Sharpton said later in an interview with Fox News Channel. The activist said he thought some of the complaints about Mr. Clinton’s rhetoric were justified. “Some of it was offensive. Some of it was overblown. None of it is helpful. We have real issues that need to be discussed,” Rev. Sharpton said. He said Mr. Clinton vowed to “stay on program,” to promote Mrs. Clinton, and not to go after Mr. Obama.

Rev. Sharpton told Fox he is “trying” not to endorse in the presidential case.

ENDORSEMENT WATCH

Senator Clinton got nods yesterday from Rep. Maxine Waters of Los Angeles and from a newspaper, the Irish Voice. Governor Sebelius of Kansas formally announced her endorsement of Senator Obama, as did Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, who had previously been in John Edwards’s camp.

HUCKABEE TAUNTS ROMNEY OVER FRIED CHICKEN TECHNIQUE

Handed a golf club on the campaign trail yesterday, Michael Huckabee took a figurative swing at Mitt Romney. Mr. Huckabee, who is not a golfer, joked that he had no idea how to wield the iron offered by a golf course worker in Tampa, Fla. “Let’s see, do you hold this end or this end?” the former Arkansas governor said, planting his feet and turning the club over in his hands, as seen in CNN footage of the event. Then, he let loose a zinger. “It’ll be like Mitt Romney eating fried chicken,” he said.