Jesse Jackson said Monday he did not mean to pressure Democratic presidential front-runner Bill Clinton by suggesting he might not support the party's ticket unless offered the vice presidential slot.
"Let me be clear," Jackson said in a statement. "At no time did I threaten the candidate or the party over the vice presidency or anything else."Jackson's statement came after Clinton and party leaders contacted him about comments attributed to him in Monday editions of the New York Daily News.
"I've got the experience and I've got the votes. I see myself as a running mate for the Democratic Party," Jackson told the newspaper. The Daily News further quoted Jackson as saying he was "prepared to react" if his offer to serve on the ticket was ignored or rejected.
Jackson later issued a statement saying that the Daily News story was "a text out of context."