In other campaign news, the Reverend Jesse Jackson has apologized to Senator Barack Obama for critical and crude comments accusing Obama of “talking down” to African Americans. Jackson was preparing for an interview on Fox News when he was secretly recorded criticizing Obama’s recent singling out of African American fathers who abandon their children.

Rev. Jesse Jackson: “See, Barack been talking down to black people on this faith-based — I wanna cut his [beep] off.”

Jackson was unaware his remarks were being recorded. He issued a public apology after Fox News announced it would play the comments on last night’s episode of the Bill O’Reilly broadcast The O’Reilly Factor.

Rev. Jackson: “If anything I’ve said in a hot mic statement that’s attributed as distraction, I offer apology for that, because I don’t want harm or hurt to come to this campaign. It represents too much of the dreams of so many who have paid such great prices, and I’m very sensitive to what that means.”

In a statement, Jackson further explained his remarks, saying, “My appeal was for the moral content of his message to not only deal with the personal and moral responsibility of black males, but to deal with the collective moral responsibility of government and the public policy.”