Hillary Clinton said Friday she regretted comments that evoked the June 1968 assassination of Robert Kennedy as part of her explanation for why she was staying in the presidential race late into the primary season.
“Earlier today, I was discussing the Democratic primary history and in the course of that discussion mentioned the campaigns that both my husband and Senator Kennedy waged in California in June in 1992 and 1968, and I was referencing those to make the point that we have had nominating primary contests that go into June. That’s an historic fact,” she told reporters.
Earlier this afternoon (Friday), she told the editorial board of the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader that “My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don’t understand it,” complaining that “people have been trying to push me out of this ever since Iowa,” saying that that position “historically… makes no sense.”
The Obama campaign reacted quickly. “Sen. Clinton’s statement before the Argus Leader editorial board was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign,” they said in a statement.
Her campaign first defended the remarks, saying that the New York senator had been making a historical parallel and any “any reading into it beyond that is inaccurate and outrageous.”
Information from the Associated Press contributed to this report.