As the New York Post reports, in an interview with a South Dakota newspaper's editorial board in response to a question about why some people are urging her to drop out of the race, Hillary Clinton made an unfortunate historical reference:

"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it."

Watch video of Clinton's interview with the Sioux Falls Argus Leader here.

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton released the following statement regarding Clinton's statement: "Senator Clinton's statement before the Argus Leader editorial board was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign."

UPDATE: Clinton issued the following statement today clarifying her remarks to the Argus Leader:

"Earlier today I was discussing the Democratic primary history and in the course of that discussion mentioned the campaigns that both my husband and Senator Kennedy waged in California in June 1992 and 1968 and I was referencing those to make the point that we have had nomination primary contests that go into June. That's a historic fact. The Kennedys have been much on my mind the last days because of Senator Kennedy and I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation, and particularly for the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that, whatsoever. My view is that we have to look to the past and to our leaders who have inspired us and give us a lot to live up to, and I'm honored to hold Senator Kennedy's seat in the United States Senate from the state of New York and have the highest regard for the entire Kennedy family."

SECOND UPDATE: The Argus Leader has now released a statement regarding the editor's take on Clinton's statement. From executive editor Randell Beck:

The context of the question and answer with Sen. Clinton was whether her continued candidacy jeopardized party unity this close to the Democratic convention. Her reference to Mr. Kennedy's assassination appeared to focus on the timeline of his primary candidacy and not the assassination itself.

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