George W. Bush has visited twice, once as a candidate and once as president.

Renegade Republican Pat Buchanan wasn't allowed on campus when he ran for president in 1996 but stood in the rain outside the school gates while hundreds of cadets cheered his staunch defense of keeping women out.

While Sen. John McCain of Arizona did not stop by the school during his presidential campaign, he served as graduation speaker in 2002.

Even some Democrats running in the state's Feb. 3 first-in-the-South presidential primary are finding the climate favorable.

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, a Vietnam veteran, came to campus as a guest on MSNBC's traveling "Hardball" show late last year, while retired Gen. Wesley Clark visited Monday as part of his first official trip to South Carolina as a candidate.

To heighten the commander-in-chief effect, and to be near an electrical outlet, the Clark campaign put the speakers' podium in front of the parade ground's two working 75 mm howitzers, creating an imposing backdrop for TV cameras.

When the impact of all the politician visits is combined, it raises the question: Is the school's emphasis on a military education subject to exploitation by office-seekers trying to boost their hawkish credentials?

"I think it's always a concern," said William Jenkinson III, the chairman of The Citadel Board of Visitors, who added that Clark's appearance just days after announcing his White House campaign prompted thoughts about the growing popularity of the school as a stump spot.

Clark's visit last week was not impromptu. He was invited by Charlestonian Phil Lader, the ambassador to Great Britain under President Clinton and a long-time friend of Clark who is a visiting professor of international studies at the school. Lader said there was an open invitation for Clark to visit, but it was speeded up after his sudden entry in the presidential race.

Clark's use of the school wasn't free. His campaign will be billed a minimum of $650 for rental of the parade grounds and for the labor used to set up the event, including the placement of chairs, said school spokeswoman Charlene Gunnells.

Buchanan faced a far more difficult reception when he tried to visit the campus in 1996, a day ahead of the state's GOP primary against favorite Bob Dole and a field of Republicans. At the time, school officials said Buchanan would not be allowed on school grounds unless the entire GOP lineup was there, too.

In 2000, recognizing the need for specific controls and protections over when and how political candidates can visit, school leaders adopted guidelines stressing neutrality. They detail mandatory rental and labor fees for any candidate wishing to come on campus, and they stress that the school does not endorse any party or visiting candidate, or allow cadets to be used as props to provide protocol or seating functions.

The school reserves the right to refuse stump space to anyone.

"The event must have an educational benefit to the Corps of Cadets and will not disturb the academic, military, or athletic life of the college," the guidelines state.

Jenkinson said the rules protect the military school on a variety of levels, from its academic and leadership role, to sensitive topics such as the loss of two former Citadel students killed in the war in Iraq.

Veteran Columbia advertising executive Tim Kelly said candidates who come to The Citadel are looking for two things: a recognizable platform for discussing national security with South Carolina voters, and a safe reception when they arrive.

"He's not going to get heckled there even if he's disagreed with," said Kelly of the CNSG advertising and public relations firm.

The school isn't just a favorite for presidential candidates. Charlie Condon launched his Republican bid for U.S. Senate in 2004 in The Citadel's alumni association building by speaking about global threats. He addressed a roomful of local students and uniformed cadets that included several women, whose gender he vigorously tried to exclude from the school when he was the state's attorney general.

Condon was billed the non-alumni rate to speak at the John Monroe Holliday Alumni Center. It was more than $500 but less than $1,000, said executive director Mike Rogers, who declined to give the exact figure.

Across South Carolina, colleges in general are favored stopping points for political candidates. Campaign staffers say they present easy opportunities for candidates to draw crowds almost any time of day, including the youthful student-voters that candidates like to be seen with.

Democratic Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina announced his bid for the White House two weeks ago on the campus of the University of South Carolina (where he was heckled by Republican students). Last week, Carol Moseley Braun went to Benedict College, a historically black school in Columbia, to make the South Carolina stop on her official announcement tour.

Bush visited the College of Charleston as a candidate, and the school is still in the running to hold a debate among the 10 Democratic candidates in January just days ahead of the Feb. 3 primary.

Whatever the motivation of politicians to visit The Citadel, school officials are at least partially receptive to the benefits it brings them in return.

After Bush spoke on campus to mark the three-month anniversary of the 9-11 terror attacks, school President Maj. Gen. John Grinalds said there probably would be a publicity bump based on the next day's news reports. Media accounts of Bush's visit brought The Citadel name into no fewer than 90 million households, Grinalds estimated at the time.

Lader said candidates coming to The Citadel ahead of South Carolina's presidential primaries might one day take on even bigger prestige if the campus' popularity grows as a must-visit stump spot.

"It's very much like in New Hampshire," he said. "Most candidates, before they even are candidates, do policy speeches at Dartmouth College."

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