'RACE TIFF WON'T SPLIT DEMS' 'RACE TIFF WON'T SPLIT DEMS' Any dispute over race between the Democratic presidential candidates is on its way to resolution, former President Bill Clinton said Tuesday on the Rev. Al Sharpton's radio show. "Both Hillary (Rodham Clinton) and Sen. (Barack) Obama issued very conciliatory statements. So I think we're well on the way to getting back together," he said of the tensions that arose following his wife's comments about Martin Luther King Jr. Some in the black community objected after Hillary Clinton said it took President Lyndon B. Johnson, a white politician, to finally realize King's dream of racial equality by signing the Civil Rights Act. Others were displeased with the former president's remark in New Hampshire about Obama telling a "fairy tale" in his opposition to the Iraq war. The former president told Sharpton that, with a black man and a woman at the forefront of the contest, it was "a happy moment" for everyone in the party. He predicted that, by the time of the nominating convention in Denver in late August, Democrats would be presenting a united front. Source: Associated Press SPARKS, Nev. (AP)  Bill Clinton, who carried Nevada in two general elections, urged voters Tuesday to buck labor endorsements for Sen. Barack Obama and support his wife in Saturday's hotly contested presidential caucuses as the only Democratic candidate with the experience necessary to change the country. The former president trumpeted New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's accomplishments while painting Obama as the "establishment" candidate who would bring only the "feeling of change." "One candidate says you should vote for me because I've not been involved at all in the struggles of the past and therefore we need to turn over a new leaf and (try) something absolutely new. And if you want the feeling of change, then that is the person you should support," Clinton said in a 75-minute speech to about 300 people in a YMCA gymnasium. "The other candidate says vote for me because I spent a lifetime making change, raising hopes and fulfilling dreams for other people," he said about the former first lady. In a speech to nearly 2,000 people in neighboring Reno on Monday, Obama portrayed himself as the candidate for change, his campaign's theme from the onset. "You got to ask yourself, 'Who is best equipped to bring about this change you are hoping for?" said Obama, who later campaigned in Fallon and Carson City. "I know how hard it is going to be to provide health care to every American. ... to fix our schools or reduce poverty. I know because I fought these fights," the former civil rights lawyer said. After trailing Hillary Clinton by a 2-1 margin in Nevada as recently as November, a poll published this week showed Obama had moved into a virtual tie with her and former Sen. John Edwards. Buoyed by an endorsement from the largest union in the state, Obama had 32%, Clinton 30% and Edwards 27%, according to the poll conducted for the Reno Gazette-Journal with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. Bill Clinton said he talked with many of the 60,000-member Culinary Union's rank-and-file who intend to ignore the endorsement and vote for his wife. "In this case the establishment organization is with him and the insurgents are with her," Clinton said in his speech. He then asked for a show of hands from about 50 precinct captains in the audience and challenged them to stand up to the union's leadership. "They think they're better than you are at identifying and physically getting people to their caucus sites. And I bet they're wrong," he said to cheers. Among the Democratic candidates remaining, Sen. Clinton is the only one "with a record of consistently passing important bills with the support of Republicans," Bill Clinton said. "We cannot pass health care reform and we cannot pass energy reform without some Republican votes in the Senate," he said. "When she was in the White House, she worked with Republicans to double the number of kids moving out of foster homes. She has always been able to do this." Bill Clinton continued the theme of "change" in a speech later Tuesday to about 500 people at a fire station in Carson City. Suggesting the Democratic race is down to his wife and Obama, he said the party appears to be ready to make history by nominating either its first African American or first woman. "Hillary has an enormous amount of African American support and Barack Obama has a lot of white people for him," he said in Sparks. "There's still some African Americans who support Barack, even though they like Hillary, because they think he is the first African American to have a chance to be president," Clinton said. "And there's a lot of women who are voting for Hillary, even though they like Sen. Obama, because they think it would be better if a woman broke the glass ceiling." Edwards and Sen. Clinton both planned campaign appearance in Reno on Wednesday. Sens. Clinton and Obama also planned to appear on Friday in Elko. Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Enlarge By Steve Marcus, Las Vegas Sun via AP Former U.S. president Bill Clinton campaigns for his wife Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton at the Doolittle Community Center in Las Vegas, Monday. Conversation guidelines: USA TODAY welcomes your thoughts, stories and information related to this article. Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep the conversation appropriate for interested readers across the map.