Instead, the pews were filled with an overwhelmingly white audience of college students, yuppies and parents with strollers.

Apparently overlooked that night was the fact that Dean's visit to one of the most politically connected black churches in Charleston came at the same time nearby Burke High School was holding its homecoming football game and while the MOJA arts festival was in gear.

Still, Dean's appearance before a predominately white audience wasn't out of the ordinary. Few black voters have shown up to meet the candidates during recent stump visits ahead of the state's key Feb. 3 presidential primary.

Last week, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut was at Hyman's Seafood Co. restaurant, where the crowd was mostly white. Retired Gen. Wesley Clark was at The Citadel last month and also faced a mostly white audience. Before he dropped out of the race, Sen. Bob Graham of Florida visited near the Medical University of South Carolina, and the guests again were mostly white.

What's notable about the trend is that South Carolina's role in the presidential selection process is as the first state with a large black electorate. More than 550,000 blacks are registered to vote in South Carolina, and estimates are that up to 50 percent of the turnout could be from black voters.

Black leaders traveling with the candidates have noticed it, too.

"For some reason, the black community is not connecting with the candidates outwardly," said state Rep. David Mack, D-North Charleston, Dean's South Carolina campaign chairman. "The black community is more reserved and not coming out."

State Rep. John L. Scott, D-Columbia, a Lieberman backer, said the chore of attracting black voters is tougher now than it was in previous elections, particularly because of the rise of the black middle class.

"It requires a lot more effort," he said. "The black community is a lot more sophisticated than it used to be."

To be sure, the candidates are not snubbing the black vote in South Carolina.

Six of the nine hopefuls strained the limits of their travel schedules last weekend to fly across the country from Phoenix to Charlotte to appear briefly at the S.C. convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Some launched radio messages airing on urban stations.

But their quick-hit visits haven't attracted black voters in the critical handshake politicking that goes into running for office.

University of South Carolina political scientist Todd Shaw said he sees several reasons why.

First of all, it is early in the process and the field will change greatly by the time South Carolinians vote, he said. While the candidates' faces are on TV almost everyday, Shaw said, none of the candidates seems to have the charisma and connections to excite black voters the way former President Clinton could on the campaign trail.

"It is proper to be concerned about what degree they are attracting black voters," said Shaw, a professor of black studies.

Another hurdle, Shaw said, is that blacks nationwide have become more cynical about the presidential race after the George Bush-Al Gore election of 2000 was decided in a legal fight over Florida.

The black turnout is expected to be shaped strongly by what the state's black congressman, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, whose 6th District includes parts of Charleston and the Lowcountry, says and does in the weeks ahead of the Feb. 3 vote.

Many observers foresee Clyburn supporting close friend Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri in the race, although Clyburn has been neutral in public so far.

He said last week he wasn't overly concerned yet about the low interest of black voters at campaign events. Clyburn said he sees a flipside: More whites are interested, and that's a good sign for the Democratic Party, which has lost white voters throughout the South in the past 30 years.

"It may be that more white people are coming back to the Democratic Party here," Clyburn said.

He said the interest will take off among black voters once the field narrows and the survivors better craft their messages.

"It's like going to a restaurant and having too many choices," he said. "A lot of people are not engaged because the choices are too many."

Clyburn said he doesn't plan on spending any of his own resources in getting the black vote out for the primary.

South Carolina State University political scientist Willie Legette said that as the primary date grows near, he expects the candidates to strengthen their messages to separate themselves from the pack. So far, that strategy has been lacking because all the candidates have spent most of their time targeting President Bush, not each other.

The race for South Carolina will heat up, Legette said, adding that it's far too early to panic over how black voters are acting now.

"At this point," he said, "most of these candidates have not been successful in drawing interest from anybody."

Click here to return to story:
http://www.charleston.net/stories/102003/loc_20whitecro.shtml