I can think of no other out for him. He will be marked a right winger, or racist he must explain or he is doomed in the senate-PERIOD.
I really believe this is what he was thinking when he said the statement-and it is now hard to explain politically now w/out looking like what you say- bashing.
In todays society, this mis-perception is simply not true, and it was only partly true then.
The southern states wanted the freedom to determine their own destiny regarding many issues that they felt the federal government was infringing on.
Slavery was but one of them then and is not even considered now.