Barack Obama, struggling to win over white Democratic voters as he seeks to become the first black US President, said in a television interview yesterday that race would not be a factor in November's election.
"Is race still a factor in our society? Yes. I don't think anybody would deny that," Mr Obama said on Fox News Sunday.
"Is that going to be the determining factor in a general election? No, because I'm absolutely confident that the American people - what they're looking for is somebody who can solve their problems," the Illinois senator said in an interview taped on Saturday.
Mr Obama and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, a New York senator, were focusing on Indiana, which along with North Carolina will be the next big tests on May 6 towards picking a presidential nominee to face Republican John McCain in November.
Mr Obama is leading Mrs Clinton in the popular vote, states won and committed delegates to the party's nominating convention in August, but her recent victories in Pennsylvania and Ohio have raised questions about his ability to win white voters.
In Pennsylvania, Mrs Clinton won white union households and white Catholics - two key Democratic blocs - by about 70 per cent to Mr Obama's 30 per cent. About one in seven Pennsylvania voters said race was an issue and that group voted overwhelmingly against Mr Obama.
Mr Obama said he had won many of those same voters in other states and after a Democratic nominee was decided, those voters would back the party's candidate against Mr McCain.
"I am confident that when you come to a general election, and we are having a debate about the future of this country - how are we going to lower gas prices, how are we going to deal with job losses, how are we going to focus on energy independence - that those are voters who I will be able to appeal to," he said.
"If I lose, it won't be because of race," Mr Obama said. "It will be because... I made mistakes on the campaign trail, I wasn't communicating effectively my plans in terms of helping them in their everyday lives."