Here’s CNN’s headline right now:

RACE NOT THE ISSUEObama Explains South Carolina Win

Remember when Nixon said “I Am Not a Crook”? What impression did everyone take away? That he was a crook. This is a fundamental rule of strategic communications: A denial is always perceived as an affirmation. (So if you want to tell people you’re not a crook, you need to say: “I have fully complied with both the letter and the spirit of the law!”)

By comparing Obama’s win in South Carolina to Jessie Jackson’s victories there, and getting Obama to deny that racial solidarity was the principal factor, the Clintons have indeed made RACE THE ISSUE.