Racial issues dominated the final debate between US Democratic Party presidential hopefuls Al Gore and Bill Bradley.

The debate was held on Martin Luther King Day - a national holiday commemorating the civil rights campaigner - and after 40,000 people marched in South Carolina protesting against the Confederate flag, which was flown by the slave-owning southern states during the American Civil War.

Mr Bradley used the televised debate in Des Moines, Iowa, to demand that his rival should push through a ban on racial profiling - the police practice of stopping suspects based on their ethnic origin.

His opponent said that, if elected, he would issue an executive order banning the practice but added: "I don't think President Bill Clinton needs a lecture from Bill Bradley about how to fight for African Americans and Latinos."

Although Iowa has only a small number of black and Hispanic voters, nationally the ethnic minority vote is vital if either is to succeed President Clinton.

Mr Bradley has made race relations a cornerstone of his career in public life, while political analysts say Vice President Gore has a large, apparently loyal, block of black voters, especially in the southern states.

Polls consistently show that Mr Gore has a 50% lead over his rival among black voters, who is working hard to reverse the trend.

Both men can point to long-held civil rights credentials. Al Gore tells how his father lost his Tennessee Senate seat in the fight for civil rights.

Mr Bradley talks about his responsibility as a New York Knicks basketball player 30 years ago, when he would take aside any white player who did not understand black people had to be treated with respect.

Common ground

In Iowa - the sixth time the men have held a head-to-head debate - the two candidates were able to agree on many questions concerning race.

They both said that the father of Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy at the centre of an international custody battle, should travel to the US to press his claim for custody.

They also agreed that the Confederate flag, which civil rights campaigners say is a symbol of repression, should be lowered in South Carolina - the only state still to fly the flag on its statehouse.

The Confederate flag has also become an issue in the Republican campaign, but both leading contenders, George W Bush and John McCain, have said it is up to South Carolina residents to decide whether the flag should fly.

In the Iowa debate, Mr Bradley said: "[The flag] "offends our common humanity and it is not the future of our country."

Mr Gore said he knew some people were in favour of the flag but added: "We have to try to bring them into a shared understanding of why, as a symbol, it is so hurtful.

"It's only the Republican candidates for president who are so scared of the extreme right wing, that they will be tolerant of intolerance, lest they offend the offensive. It ought to come down."

Mr Gore and Mr Bradley also agreed there should be more educational opportunities for minorities.