LAS VEGAS, January 14: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have become embroiled in racially tinged disputes as large numbers of black voters prepare to get their first say in a tight Democratic campaign marked by surprise twists. The candidates and their surrogates are heating up their rhetoric, and it could prove to be combustible beyond South Carolina’s January 26 Democratic primary.

A nationwide Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that Obama has been making up considerable ground on longtime front-runner Clinton since his unexpected victory in the January 3 Iowa caucuses. Clinton then edged Obama in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday despite widespread predictions to the contrary. Clinton led with 42 per cent of those polled, followed by Obama with 37 per cent.

The poll was conducted on January 9-12 and involved telephone interviews with 1,130 people. A similar poll conducted by CBS News-New York Times had Clinton ahead by a bigger margin with 42 per cent to Obama’s 27 per cent. Edwards had 11 per cent.

On the Democratic side, the steam went out of the Michigan primary a long time ago. Michigan has been stripped of its 156 national convention delegates by the Democratic National Committee’s Rules Committee because it broke party rules by moving up its primary to January 15, challenging Iowa and New Hampshire on the nomination calendar.

Obama and Edwards took the extra step of withdrawing their names from the ballot. Some backers of the three are urging supporters to vote for “uncommitted” as a way of embarrassing Clinton and possibly gaining some national convention delegates.

Clinton, meanwhile, has been on the defensive over comments that she and her husband made regarding slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy and Obama’s fitness for the White House, tried to turn the tables on her top primary rival. She accused his campaign of looking to score political points by distorting their words.

Meanwhile, Clinton advisors pointed to a memo written by an Obama staffer compiling examples of comments by Clinton and her surrogates that could be construed as racially insensitive. The memo later surfaced on some political web sites.