Dick Morris
Thursday, Jan. 19, 2006

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Sources close to New York civil rights leader Rev Al Sharpton tell me that Hillary used his annual Martin Luther King Day forum to liken the House Republican majority's conduct of the House of Representatives to a "plantation" because she fears a Sharpton challenge in the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary.

Hillary also fears that if Sharpton were to challenge her, it could weaken her in a possible contest against Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the fall, if Rice were to be the GOP nominee.

"She is afraid of Condi," one of Sharpton's key people said.

"She did not attend Sharpton's annual King Day celebration last year or the year before even though she was invited," he added.

"Now she comes, all of a sudden, and makes a militant statement unlike what she did at the other King Day events she attended. It is all because she wants to appease Sharpton so he doesn't give her a hard time when she runs for president."

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Hillary has reason to fear Condi in 2008.

On Sunday, the day before Mrs. Clinton's speech, First Lady Laura Bush said that Rice would make a "terrific" candidate and president.

She would not have made that comment unless her husband put her up to it. Make no mistake about it, the Bushes are quietly moving behind Rice in 2008.

"It is no coincidence," the Sharpton source said, "that the day after Laura's comment, Hillary shores up her base in the black community by talking about plantations."

Editor's note:
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