JIM LEHRER: And suddenly the Democrats have a racial argument. Judy Woodruff has our story.

JUDY WOODRUFF: For most of the presidential campaign so far, the issue of race has stayed in the background. Indeed, when Senator Obama has brought up his own race, it's been in telling his life story. And he's invoked the civil rights movement in the context of his emphasis on hope in American politics.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), Illinois: Is JFK looking up at the moon and saying, "False hope, too far, reality check, can't do it"? Dr. King standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, looking out over that magnificent crowd, the reflecting pool, the Washington Monument, "Sorry, guys, false hope, the dream will die, it can't be done"?

False hope? We don't need leaders to tell us what we can't do; we need those who can inspire us to do.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But Senator Clinton now stands accused of injecting race into the campaign, highlighted by her comment last Monday to Fox News.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), New York: Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Clinton added, "The power of the dream became a reality in people's lives because we had a president who said we're going to do it and actually got it accomplished."

Some prominent African-Americans seized on those words, saying she had minimized the role of Martin Luther King, Jr., in effecting change during the civil rights era.

Appearing yesterday on NBC, Clinton pushed back.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON: Dr. King had been on the front lines. He had been leading a movement. Does he deserve the lion's share of the credit for moving our country and moving our political process? Yes, he does.

But he also had partners who were in the political system. And I think it is such an unfair and unwarranted attempt to, you know, misinterpret and mischaracterize what I've said.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Clinton accused the Obama campaign of spinning her words and playing politics.

Senator Obama responded in a conference call to reporters, saying, "Senator Clinton made an unfortunate remark, an ill-advised remark, about King and Lyndon Johnson. I didn't make the statement. I haven't remarked on it. And she, I think, offended some folks who felt that somehow diminished King's role in bringing about the Civil Rights Act."

"She is free to explain that, but the notion that somehow this is our doing is ludicrous."

Later in the day, Clinton campaigned in South Carolina with Robert Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television. He came to her defense with a swipe at Obama.

ROBERT JOHNSON, Founder, Black Entertainment Television: I am frankly insulted that the Obama campaign would imply that we are so stupid that we would think Hillary and Bill Clinton, who have been deeply and emotionally involved in black issues... when Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood that I won't say what he was doing, but he said it in his book.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Back came the Obama camp, arguing that was a thinly veiled reference to their candidate's admitted drug use years ago.

The question of race is coming to the fore with just two weeks to go before the Democratic primary in South Carolina, where fully half the votes are expected to be cast by African-Americans.

We take a closer look at the role of race in this presidential campaign with two veterans of the civil rights movement. Congressman John Lewis of Georgia led the 1965 voting rights march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. He has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president.

And the Reverend Joseph Lowery, co-founder, along with Dr. King, and president emeritus of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He has endorsed Barack Obama.

Gentlemen, thank you both for being with us. Clinton attacked over MLK remarks JUDY WOODRUFF: Reverend Lowery, to you first. The comment that Senator Clinton made last Monday that has gotten so much attention, some are saying this was what started it all, when she in essence said that Dr. King's work wouldn't have been realized if it hadn't been for President Lyndon Johnson. How did you interpret what she said?

REV. JOSEPH LOWERY, Co-Founder, Southern Christian Leadership Conference: Well, I didn't hear her make the statement from the beginning, but I can understand how some people may have felt that it implicitly diminished the role of Dr. King.

If Mrs. Clinton says that's not what she meant, then I'm willing to take her word for it.

It was divisive, unfortunately. We have to avoid that as best we can and stay on the issues. I think the American people want to hear us talk about the critical issues that face us as a nation in the future.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Representative Lewis, how did you interpret? And you just heard Reverend Lowery say he can see how some people felt that that diminished Dr. King's role.

REP. JOHN LEWIS (D), Georgia: Judy, I knew Martin Luther King, Jr. I marched with him. I worked with him. He played a major role in inspiring people, giving people hope.

I also knew Lyndon Johnson. I was there with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on March 15, 1965, when we watched Lyndon Johnson deliver his speech in response to what was happening in Selma, when he said, "And we shall overcome."

I looked at Dr. King. He looked at me, and tears came down his eyes. And he said, "We will get the civil rights bill, the voting rights bill passed. We will march from Selma to Montgomery."

I think there's been a deliberate, systematic attempt on the part of some people in the Obama camp to really fan the flame of race and really try to distort what Senator Clinton said. I understand and I think most right-thinking people understood what she said.

Martin Luther King, Jr., created the climate, created the environment, but it took a Lyndon Johnson to get the legislation through the Congress.

No one is trying to say Dr. King did little. He did a great deal. He is not crying out from his grave in Atlanta saying, "Defend me." His legacy doesn't need any defense.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Reverend Lowery, what about -- there seems to be a fundamental, at least a difference of opinion here on what the role of Dr. King was, at least as it's been referenced by Senator Clinton.

You're saying you can see how some people would have seen this as diminishing his role, and Representative Lewis is saying no.

REV. JOSEPH LOWERY: Well, I don't think there's any need to defend Martin Luther King. I don't hear anybody say that his role was diminished. I think some people may have read that, but it wasn't the Obama camp, as I understand it, that raised the issue.

It was media. The media saw something in the statement that Mrs. Clinton denies was there.

I'm willing to take Mrs. Clinton's word. And I chastise those in the media who raised it from that perspective.

We don't need that. We don't need that. We've got candidates who are good candidates.

I think all of them have to avoid saying what's divisive. That's what I like about Obama. He is trying to heal and bring us together. And I think we all ought to avoid anything that divides us. In the end, we all want to be together and change the direction of this country.

REP. JOHN LEWIS: Let me say, Judy, President Clinton and Senator Clinton have a long record of working to bring people together. Long before President Clinton ever dreamed of running for president, long before Senator Clinton ever dreamed of running for president, they have a history, a very, very long history.

And no right-thinking, informed American would ever believe that President Clinton or Mrs. Clinton would do anything to use the race card. Obama camp accused of exploitation JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, Reverend Lowery, what about Representative Lewis' comment that he thinks that there's a systematic attempt on the part of the Obama campaign to make something more out of this?

REV. JOSEPH LOWERY: Well, I think that's absolutely false. I never heard the Obama people respond until media had done it. A columnist in the New York Times and others on radio and television and in the print media all raised the issue, was this below the belt?

If Mrs. Clinton says that was not her intention, I accept that. And I don't think John or anybody else ought to try to blame the Obama campaign for raising the issue. They did not.

And I think all of us ought to urge all the candidates to stay on the issues, the economy, the war, justice, fairness in our country. Those are the issues.

And I don't think we need to defend -- I certainly don't need to defend Martin Luther King. And I don't think John needs to defend the Clintons.

What we need to do is concentrate on the issues facing the American people and keep the campaign where it ought to be: around the issues.

REP. JOHN LEWIS: Well, I agree with you very much, Joe, that we should stay on the issues. And that's what Mrs. Clinton has attempted to do.

She only referred to the issue of Dr. King when Obama, Mr. Obama, raised the question of leadership in his speeches. Mrs. Clinton was saying we need more than rhetoric. We need more than speeches.

Dr. King gave some great speeches. He took to the street, and there was action, but he needed a president to pass the legislation.

JUDY WOODRUFF: You're saying this came out of the language that Senator Obama is using on the campaign trail?

REP. JOHN LEWIS: Well, I think it did come out of the language that Mr. Obama is using, but the Obama camp is also doing something else. They're sending out memos to members of the media, trying to suggest that the Clintons are playing the race card.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Reverend Lowery?

REV. JOSEPH LOWERY: Well, when you use words like "fairy tale," when you try to -- when you get into comparative structure and situations, you open yourself to all kinds of implications.

And I think that's why I think it's wise for candidates to stay on the issues. As I said before, if Mrs. Clinton denies, I don't think, John, you need to spend your time defending Mrs. Clinton.

REP. JOHN LEWIS: I'm just trying to set the record straight. Joe, I must tell you...

REV. JOSEPH LOWERY: If she said that's not what she meant, good. I take it from there. Let's move from there and deal with the economy, the war, health care, the issues that people care about.

REP. JOHN LEWIS: That's what Mrs. Clinton has been all about and her campaign has been all about: the issues, health care, education.

REV. JOSEPH LOWERY: But Mrs. Clinton -- let her say that. Let me hear her say that's not what she meant. When she does, I'll accept it. Clinton supporter assails Obama JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Representative Lewis, these other comments, the Bill Shaheen comment, the co-chair of New Hampshire stepped down after he referred to the drug use in Senator Obama's past.

Just yesterday, Bob Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, appeared to again bring that up. He said "what he was doing in the neighborhood." We just played a clip of that. How do you explain those comments?

REP. JOHN LEWIS: Judy, I think you really have to ask Mr. Johnson. I don't know what he had in mind when he made the reference to what is in his book. He could have been talking about the community organizing that Mr. Obama had been involved in on the south side of Chicago. It's very hard and difficult for me to read his mind.

REV. JOSEPH LOWERY: But it's very difficult, also, to listen to the demeaning tone that Bob used and think he was talking about something as positive as community organizing. Obviously, he was referring to something that he considered less than right.

And I regret that very much, because again that's a distraction we don't need. We need to talk about what these candidates plan to do about the critical problems facing the American people. And we need to do everything we can to heal wounds and to bring people together. That's what I like about Obama's campaign.

REP. JOHN LEWIS: Well, I'll tell you, President Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton for many, many years have been all about bringing people together and not dividing people according to race, agenda or class. Worries of polarization, division JUDY WOODRUFF: How sharp are the divisions in the black community over this, Representative Lewis?

REP. JOHN LEWIS: Well, I think there are strong feelings, because people are divided over whether to support Senator Clinton or to support Senator Obama. I happen to believe, at this juncture in our history, that we need someone with the experience to lead and prepare to lead.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But how confident are you, Reverend Lowery, that it is going to come to an end, given the fact that the two of you, even though you both say you want it to end, you do have a different interpretation of what's been going on here?

REV. JOSEPH LOWERY: Well, that's healthy for America. And I don't have any problem differing with John. We've differed before.

And just as I don't feel a need to defend Barack Obama, I think he's done very well. And I think Mrs. Clinton can speak for herself.

I don't know what the devil Bob was talking about, but I don't think there's as much division as we think. I think the division came -- it was people who have not taken a side, people like Clyburn in South Carolina and Donna Brazile, people who haven't taken a side, who raise the issue of the inference of the remarks that came from the Clintons, not the Obama campaign.

REP. JOHN LEWIS: I think some people like Donna Brazile or even maybe Clyburn or some others in the African-American community are trying to use this as a cover to come out and endorse a particular candidate.

JUDY WOODRUFF: You're suggesting that Senator Obama...

REV. JOSEPH LOWERY: Well, I think you ought to let those people themselves, John.

REP. JOHN LEWIS: Well, you raised it, Joe. I did not.

REV. JOSEPH LOWERY: I raise it because it's in the news. You said the Obama campaign raised the issue; I'm telling you they did not. It was media people and other people who have been relatively impartial.

REP. JOHN LEWIS: Well, you have tried...

REV. JOSEPH LOWERY: And I simply said I can understand how they could read that in those statements, "fairy tale," "false hope"...

REP. JOHN LEWIS: Fairy tale has nothing...

REV. JOSEPH LOWERY: ... Johnson. That's not a positive approach. Let's stay positive. Let's stay on the issues and serve America.

REP. JOHN LEWIS: President Clinton referenced the fairy tale. It had nothing, not one word to do with the issue of race. It was all about the Iraq war.

REV. JOSEPH LOWERY: Listen, John, I don't know anybody who is more articulate than Bill Clinton and nobody who can choose words wisely. So I know how Bill chooses words, and I think he's able to do it.

And I don't want to defend him. And, you know, if he says he didn't mean anything negative, I take his word for it.

But I just don't want you jumping on the Obama campaign saying they raised the issue. Talk to people who were neutral, who've been for neither side, like Congressman Clyburn, like Donna Brazile.

And I don't think they're wicked people who are trying to cover the issue with race. I think they're both very objective, very useful citizens who have this country's good at heart. They want to serve the common good.

And I believe we can serve the common good by staying away from remarks that can be taken out of context. Let's stay on the issues.

JUDY WOODRUFF: From both of you, it's coming through loud and clear. And we thank you very much for joining us.

REP. JOHN LEWIS: Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Reverend Lowery, Representative Lewis, thank you very much.

REP. JOHN LEWIS: Thank you very much.

REV. JOSEPH LOWERY: Thank you, John.

REP. JOHN LEWIS: Thank you, Joe.