Wading back into the Democratic presidential race, billionaire businessman Bob Johnson said Monday that Sen. Barack Obama would not be his party's leading candidate if he were white.

Johnson's comments to the Observer echoed those of former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro. She stepped down as an adviser to Sen. Hillary Clinton last month after saying Obama wouldn't be where he is if he were white.

"What I believe Geraldine Ferraro meant is that if you take a freshman senator from Illinois called `Jerry Smith' and he says I'm going to run for president, would he start off with 90 percent of the black vote?" Johnson said. "And the answer is, probably not... ."

"Geraldine Ferraro said it right. The problem is, Geraldine Ferraro is white. This campaign has such a hair-trigger on anything racial ... it is almost impossible for anybody to say anything."

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Vagrant commented, on April 15, 2008 at 1:28 p.m.:

You drunk? There are two mispellings in the title.

Rizzuto commented, on April 15, 2008 at 1:40 p.m.:

Not drunk, I just havn't slept in days. Thanks for the heads up

mfee01 commented, on April 15, 2008 at 8:04 p.m.:

I am a 40 year old white male conservative and I say Screw Obama and all his Marxist plans. There now call me a racist I dare ya. we need to stop letting them use the "racist" term against us. Shut them down as soon as the word comes out of their mouth. STOP BEING SHEEP!!!!!