Obama seeks to elevate the level of discourse, Clinton acts conciliatory as well. It is no coincidence that MLK day is Monday.

"I've been a little concerned about the tenor of the campaign over the last few days," Obama told reporters in Reno, Nevada, after speaking to about 2,500 people at a rally. "We share the same goals, we are all Democrats, we all believe in civil rights, we all believe in equal rights."

"I think that (former President) Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton have historically and consistently been on the right side of civil rights issues," he added. "I think they care about the African American community and they care about all Americans and they want to see equal rights and equal justice in this country."

Clinton also tried to make nice with an African American audience in New York.

"Each of us, no matter who we are or where we started from, is a beneficiary of Dr. King," she said. "Both Sen. Obama and I know that we are where we are today because of leaders like Dr. King and generations of men and women like all of you."

But did they buy it?

The audience in New York clapped but some were not convinced.

"I think she wants to get a vote," said Robin Gray, 49.

"I think it was totally hypocritical, her being here. I think it was a slap in the face to the African American community," said Jerry Mitchell, 42. "It's her trying to do cleanup work based on a statement that she made."

The Clinton's are trying to portray this as a tit for tat exchange between the two campaigns, but as Jack Cafferty pointed out on MSNBC yesterday, there was only one campaign throwing mud on the other's record. And that was the Clinton campaign.

And take my word for it, if the Clinton campaign starts to struggle again they will do ANYTHING to fight back. This is not the last of the dirty tricks we are going to see from that campaign.