CHICAGO - Barack Obama faced a potentially sticky moment on Friday when comedian Bernie Mac told a joke about “hos” at a fundraiser for him but the Democratic White House hopeful quickly told him to clean up his act.

The Chicago-born comedian and actor told what he said was a joke about his nephew coming to him and asking the difference between a hypothetical question and a realistic question.

To demonstrate the difference, he tells the nephew to go ask his mother if she would make love to the mailman for $50,000. The mother says she would make love to the mailman and anybody else for $50,000.

He tells the nephew to go ask his sister if she would make love with her neighbor for $50,000. She says she would make love with the neighbor and anybody else for $50,000.

So he tells the nephew: “Hypothetically speaking, we should have $100,000. But realistically speaking we live with two hos,” Bernie Mac said.

There was an awkward moment and nervous laughter from the crowd of about 600 people who had paid $2,300 each to attend the fundraiser at a Chicago hotel. One person objected to the word “ho” — a contraction of the word “whore” used as derogatory slang for woman — and urged Bernie Mac to leave and make way for Obama.

In his speech, the Illinois senator, who hopes to become the first black U.S. president, said unity was essential in the Democratic Party. He said it should not be divided by race, religion, region, class or gender.

“That means, by the way, Bernie, you got to clean up your act,” Obama said. “This is a family affair.”

Campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki added: “Senator Obama told Bernie Mac that he doesn’t condone these statements and believes what was said was inappropriate.”

The comments came the day after Obama appealed to women voters to unite behind his candidacy.

Photo credit: Reuters/Mario Anzuoni (Bernie Mac smiles at the premiere of Ocean’s Thirteen at the Grauman’s Chinese theatre in Hollywood (June 2007)

NEW YORK - Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire — that’s how Sen. Clinton put it on Thursday at a women’s breakfast where she joined the Democratic White House hopeful to campaign for him in New York.

She said Obama had noted that she looked rested since she ended her campaign against him for the Democratic nomination, and she told him she’d been exercising for a change.

“During the campaign …  Barack would get up faithfully every morning and go to the gym. I would get up and have my hair done,” she said as she introduced him.

“It’s one of those Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire things.”

Obama’s comment on Clinton when he took the stage: “She rocks.”

Clinton said the hard fought Democratic primary had been good for politics, boosting turnout and motivating more people than ever to vote.

“Anyone who voted for me has so much in common with those who voted for Barack, and it’s critical that we join forces,” Clinton said.

 Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

Photo credit: Reuters/ Jim Young (Obama greets Clinton in Washington June 27)

NEW YORK - A Manhattan entrepreneur has found his own way to profit from the U.S. presidential race – putting the candidates’ faces on condom packages.

Benjamin Sherman has been selling condoms named after Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain around the world for several weeks through a business called Practice Safe Policy.

The Obama Condom packages read: “Use with good judgment” and the product’s Web site  reads: “Who says experience is necessary?”

The first-term senator from Illinois has been criticized for lacking experience.

McCain Condoms  come in a package with the slogan: ”Old but not expired.”

The Arizona senator is 71  and would be the oldest U.S. president elected to a first term.

“We’ve done it in fun. People are not actually going to use these condoms,” said Sherman, 26. 

The $9.95-per-pair “keepsakes” are so popular that Sherman said he had nearly sold out and expected to order a second shipment this week. He declined to say how many condoms were in each order. 

The condoms are generic and the candidates are featured only on the packaging.

(By Marcy Nicholson)

PICTURE: Reuters/Brian Snyder (Presidential candidates Obama and McCain meet onstage between debates in Manchester, NH, in January)

NEW YORK - There is a life after politics, Bill Clinton said on Friday, but he wasn’t talking to his wife.

While Hillary Clinton was taking her struggling bid for the Democratic presidential nomination down to the wire in Puerto Rico, the former U.S. president took a break from campaigning to help his old friend Tony Blair launch a new Faith Foundation.

The former British prime minister said he was inspired by the Clinton Global Initiative which aims to tackle poverty, AIDS and climate change.

Introducing Blair at the launch of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation in New York, Clinton said: “I’ve learned there’s not only life after politics, there’s good life after politics, if you find something that you really believe in. He’s found something he really believes in.”

PICTURE:REUTERS/Mike Segar (Clinton introduces former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to the podium at the official launch of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation in New York)

PHILADELPHIA — Democratic White House hopeful Hillary Clinton stopped by a dance class at the Westside YMCA in West Philadelphia on Friday. Tell us what you think — can Hillary dance?

Earlier in the day, she presented a $4 billion anti-crime plan that she hopes will halve murder rates in big cities. She was accompanied by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, a key ally in Clinton’s bid to win over black voters from her rival Barack Obama.

NEW YORK - Hillary Clinton got a warm welcome at an Irish American forum in New York on Wednesday, though the jovial crowd did break into a chorus of “Why are we waiting?” when she didn’t show up on time.

Organizers of the event recalled the New York senator’s husband, Bill Clinton, speaking at the same event in 1992 where he pledged to grant a visa to Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and to appoint a special envoy to Northern Ireland, describing it as a “seminal moment” in the peace process there.

“Were it not for the Clintons there would be no Good Friday Agreement and there would not be peace in Northern Ireland today,” said radio broadcaster Adrian Flannelly, a leading figure in the Irish American community in the United States.

Kings County District Attorney Joe Hynes, who introduced Clinton, said those who questioned how significant the former first lady’s role was in the peace process were wrong: ”Those of us who were involved know damn well she was involved,” he said.

An Irish folk singer warmed up the crowd with a few ballads about the old country, but by the time he was done, there was still no sign of Clinton, who has been known to keep her audience waiting for well over an hour at campaign events.

John Dearie, who created the Irish American presidential forum, said if she didn’t arrive soon he would have to start inviting audience members to sing. Several guests did so and somebody started a round of the song “Why are we waiting?”

They didn’t have to wait too long — she was less than half an hour late.

When she did come, she promised to meet their request to visit Ireland and Northern Ireland during her first term as president, if elected. “What a hardship,” she said, adding that she made six trips so far and was “always looking for an excuse to go back.”

Clinton did not join in the singing.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (In March 2006, US Senator Hillary Clinton hugs Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams on Capitol Hill in Washington)

NEW YORK - When Elton John plays a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton on April 9 in New York, he may want to choose his song list carefully.

Clinton knows as well as anybody the importance of a song in politics.

Last May, she used videos posted on the YouTube Web site to ask viewers to vote for a campaign song. The winning anthem was Celine Dion’s “You and I.”

Songs played repeatedly at her rallies include Tom Petty’s “American Girl,” Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5,” and Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s “Takin’ Care of Business.”

Songs Elton John might want to avoid: “Rocket Man,” “The Bitch is Back,” “I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues,” and “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.”

Songs with the right message: “I’m Still Standing,” “It’s Me That You Need” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.”

Tickets will cost from $125 to $250 for the fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall.

“I’m not a politician but I believe in the work that Hillary Clinton does,” John said in a statement issued by the Clinton campaign. “I’m excited to support Hillary by performing at what will be a truly memorable night.”

PICTURE: REUTERS/ Jumana El Heloueh (British musician Elton John smiles as he performs during the “Elton & Band” concert in Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi January 22, 2008.)

PROVIDENCE, R.I . — Hillary Clinton can work a crowd too — especially when she takes a jab at her rival Barack Obama whose rallies sometimes resemble a rock concert or a megachurch service.

At a rally in Providence, Rhode Island, that organizers said drew some 5,000 people to an indoor track at Rhode Island College, Clinton fired up her supporters by mocking Obama’s passionate rhetoric.

She said the problems facing the next president would not be easily solved.

“I could just stand up here and say ‘Let’s just get everybody together, let’s get unified.’ The sky will open, the light will come down, celestial choirs will be singing and everyone will know we should do the right thing and the world will be perfect,” she said.

“Maybe I’ve just lived a little long, but I have no illusions about how hard this is going to be,” she said, adding that a president can’t just “wave a magic wand” and get things done.

Rhode Island holds its primary on March 4, the same day as Texas and Ohio where the results could be crucial to Clinton’s White House hopes.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Claudia Parsons (Hillary Clinton talks to reporters on her campaign plane during a flight from Washington D.C. to Providence, Rhode Island, Sunday, Feb. 24)

HOUSTON - The Clinton marriage was back in the spotlight when a supporter of Hillary Clinton’s White House bid said he was looking forward to having “two presidents in the same bed,” and she remarked that politics make strange bedfellows.

A minister named F.N. Williams was among a string of religious figures on stage at a town hall meeting Clinton held late on Saturday ahead of the March 4 primary in Texas.

“It would really be wonderful to have two presidents in the same bed,” he told the crowd, drawing a mixture of laughter and cheers.

When the former first lady took the microphone, she thanked those who made the introductions and said: “I’ve never quite stopped to think about that two presidents in a bed before. ”

“I’ve read about how politics makes for strange bedfellows,” she added.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (The Clintons with supporters on Super Tuesday)

NEW ORLEANS - Locked in a tight race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton defended the right of superdelegates to exercise their own judgment in deciding which candidate to support at the party’s national convention, and not be bound to the candidate who won the vote in their district.

“Otherwise Sen. (Edward) Kennedy would have endorsed me by now,” she said, noting that she won the Massachussets primary despite the influential senator’s endorsement of her rival Barack Obama.

Obama has taken a lead in the battle to win the 2,025 delegates needed for the Democratic party nomination but neither candidate looks able to hit the target with only those delegates allocated according to primaries and caucuses.

A certain number of delegates at the conventions are set aside for members of Congress, elected state officers and other leading party officials.

Asked at a conference in New Orleans on Saturday whether a member of congress who supported Clinton should change their position if their district voted for Obama, Clinton said the superdelegates should exercise “independent judgment.”

She said independent judgement was bound to be affected by “the evolving nature of the campaign,” and acknowledged that her supporters were being aggressively pursued by the Obama campaign.

“I’m aware of the fact many people supporting me have been under tremendous pressure and that pains me, it really does, because I have long and deep relationships,” she said, adding that members of Congress and other superdelegates often knew the candidates better than voters.

She said while the popular vote was “an important part” of the process of choosing a nominee, the system of also giving members of Congress, governors and party leaders a say was meant “to give due recognition to their different experience.”

“I have every confidence that this is going to be worked out,” she said. “We will have a nominee and we will unite behind our nominee.”

As estimated by MSNBC, Obama has 1,183 delegates so far and Clinton has 1,031.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

- Photo credit: Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi (A member of the secret service closes the door for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Clinton in Fort Worth, Texas)