Innis said the only difference between the Robert Byrd of the 1950s and now is "he's got black colleagues in the House and the Senate who apologize for him."

The Senate had been poised to confirm Dr. Rice on Thursday when Byrd and Sen. Barbara Boxer threatened to extend debate and force a postponement, CNN reported Thursday morning.

With that, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid asked the Republican Majority for nine hours of debate on Rice's nomination, now scheduled for Tuesday.

Innis also shed some light on a report Tuesday that White House political guru Karl Rove was a no-show at CORE's annual Martin Luther King Day dinner in New York, where he was slated to be the guest of honor.

"We got a communication that he would not be able to make it earlier in the day," Innis told NewsMax, as he was preparing for Thursday night's inaugural festivities in Washington, D.C. "There was some type of emergency and we were told that in advance of the dinner. So it's not like he completely didn't show."

CORE, the Heritage Foundation and the American Conservative Union, as well as several other groups, sponsored the inaugural ball held at the City Museum of Washington.

"We are very pleased to be part of a coalition that, I think under normal circumstances, people would say are strange bedfellows - but are actually not so strange anymore," Innis said.

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