US Democrats battle for black votes in debate

WASHINGTON, June 29 (Reuters) Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and the other Democratic presidential contenders battled for black support with attacks on the ravages of racism and promising to lift up the poor.

In a debate at historically black Howard University in Washington, the eight Democrats condemned a Supreme Court decision yesterday barring the use of race in assigning students to public schools and said racism remained a defining challenge in the United States.

Clinton, the New York senator who leads the Democratic field in national polls for the November 2008 election and is battling Obama for crucial black support, noted HIV/AIDS was a leading cause of death among young black women and questioned the country's priorities.

''If HIV/AIDS were the leading cause of death of white women between the ages of 25 and 34, there would be an outraged outcry in this country,'' she said, drawing a partial standing ovation from the largely black crowd.

Obama, an Illinois senator who would be the first black president, said the Supreme Court decision was a frontal attack on the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case that outlawed racial segregation in US public schools.

''If it hadn't been for them, I would not be standing here today,'' he said of the justices who made that ruling. ''We have made enormous progress. But the progress we have made is not good enough.'' Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden said the decision showed the impact of new conservative Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, both nominated by Republican President George W. Bush. He said the next president would have more opportunity to shape the court.

''They have turned the court upside down,'' Biden said of Roberts and Alito. ''The next president of the United States will be able to determine whether or not we go forward or continue this slide.'' The debate, the third for the Democrats vying for the nomination, was billed as a discussion of issues of interest to black and Hispanic voters. Blacks are the most loyal of Democratic voting blocs, with Hispanics representing the fastest-growing ethnic minority in the United States.

The debate featured little interplay between candidates and almost no criticism among the contenders. It offered Obama a prime-time venue to make inroads with black voters.

'MARCH IS NOT FINISHED' John Edwards, the 2004 vice presidential nominee, referred to his 2004 theme of a ''two Americas'' -- one for the wealthy and one for the rest.

''These two Americas that I have talked about in the past, they are out there thriving every single day. We have two public school systems in America: one for the wealthy, one for everybody else. We have two health-care systems in America.'' Clinton said race and racism remained ''one of the defining challenges in the United States.'' ''Yes, we have come a long way. But, yes, we have a long way to go. The march is not finished,'' she said.

Clinton, who would be the first female president and who benefits from the popularity with blacks of her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

It also gave the Democrats an opportunity to showcase the diversity of its presidential field, which includes Bill Richardson, the Hispanic governor of New Mexico.

REUTERS SLD ND0912