(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-12 06:57

BILOXI, Mississippi - Barack Obama's camp on Tuesday called on his rival Hillary Clinton to fire history-blazing supporter Geraldine Ferraro, after she put the Illinois senator's stunning rise down to his race.

Democratic president hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., makes remarks during a campaign stop at a Gamesa plant, Tuesday, March 11, 2008, in Fairless Hills, Pa. [Agencies]

The latest controversy ripped between the two campaigns as primary voters in Mississippi cast their ballots in the latest installment of the dramatic Democratic White House race, with Obama tipped for another victory.

Ferraro, who sits on Clinton's finance committee and has spoken at her rallies, sparked the firestorm when she was quoted by a California newspaper as saying: "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position."

Obama, the first African-American with a viable shot at the White House, called the remark by the Democrats' 1984 vice presidential nominee "patently absurd."

"I don't think that Geraldine Ferraro's comments have any place in our politics or the Democratic Party," he told Pennsylvania newspaper The Morning Call.

His campaign clamored for Ferraro's head, noting the swift resignation of an Obama aide last week after her remark that Clinton was a "monster" sparked howls of outrage from the New York senator's team.

Obama's top strategist David Axelrod said the comments were part of an "insidious pattern that needs to be addressed," bringing up previous racially tinged rows between the two camps.

But Clinton said only that she did "not agree" with Ferraro's portrayal of Obama as the privileged recipient of affirmative action, and found it "regrettable" that supporters might resort to personal attacks.

"We ought to keep this focused on the issues. That's what this campaign should be about," she said while stumping in Pennsylvania ahead of the state's crunch primary on April 22.

Ferraro was the first woman on a major presidential ticket when she ran with Democratic nominee Walter Mondale in 1984. Republican Ronald Reagan won reelection in a landslide.

Speaking on Fox News, she refused to apologize, accused the Obama campaign of waging a hate campaign against her, and reiterated that the candidate's political success was "in large measure because he is black."

"I said this (Obama's) is one of the best campaigns. I speak about his star quality. I talk about how exciting it is to have two campaigns, but you know, the truth is the truth is the truth," Ferraro added.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said that by refusing to disown Ferraro Clinton "has once again proven that her campaign gets to live by its own rules and its own double standard."

But Clinton's campaign manager Maggie Williams accused the Obama team of waging "false, personal and politically calculated attacks on the eve of a primary."

The Democrats headed into the Mississippi primary, their final ballot clash before Pennsylvania, staring at potential deadlock all the way to their August nominating convention in Denver, Colorado.

Polls gave Obama a wide lead in the southern state, where more than half of Democratic voters are black. The state was electing 33 delegates Tuesday, with voting to end at 7:00 pm (0000 GMT).

Obama leads by about 100 delegates after 45 Democratic contests, and has mocked the Clintons' talk of a presidential "dream ticket" headed by the New York senator. The Ferraro race row made that prospect seem even more distant.

Republicans were also voting, but John McCain has clinched enough delegates to be the party's standard-bearer in the November presidential election, and the Arizona senator can afford to slot in a high-profile trip to Israel, Britain and France next week.

Clinton saved her campaign with wins in Ohio and Texas last week, after questioning Obama's readiness to be commander-in-chief, and the two camps dueled on the same issue again Tuesday.

Obama's camp ridiculed her claims of a direct role in managing challenges such as Northern Ireland and Kosovo during her husband's 1990s administration.

But Clinton, in Pennsylvania, accused her rival of offering little more than rhetorical flourish.

"I've got to tell you, there's a big difference between talk and action. But if you're going to talk, then you ought to mean what you say so people can count on it," she said, accusing Obama of duplicity on trade and Iraq.