COLUMBIA, S.C. - Campaigning for South Carolina's first-in-the-South Democratic presidential primary, now just three months away, the nine hopefuls have had to be careful to remain politically correct in the Palmetto State.

The South has a history deeply rooted in racism and segregation, and those issues play a role in politics to this day. That makes South Carolina a minefield of sorts for national candidates.

The state still is struggling with issues involving the Confederate flag and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Those land mines "can explode on them, just in casual conversation," said University of South Carolina political scientist Blease Graham.

Democratic presidential candidates, especially, must tread lightly in South Carolina where blacks may make up a majority of voters in the state's primary, said Francis Marion University political scientist Neal Thigpen.

State and national party leaders have been careful to avoid any missteps.

"We've got a lot of issues in this state that are unique to South Carolina that demand that we be sensitive and thoughtful and that we work together and try and find common ground," said state Democratic Party Chairman Joe Erwin.

Erwin passed over Furman University as the site of a planned Jan. 29 Democratic presidential candidate debate because Greenville County does not honor the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Erwin said holding the debate at Furman, which is in an unincorporated part of Greenville County, would put the party in an uncomfortable position.

"If I had pushed it, and we'd had it on campus, somebody in the presidential candidate grouping would have pulled out to make a statement. Once one does ... it's a domino. Then we don't have the debate. The debate goes to Arizona or Oklahoma, and the whole state loses," he said.

The candidates have had to be mindful of the statewide economic boycott by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The boycott began when the Confederate flag flew on the Statehouse dome and continued when the flag was moved to its current spot on Statehouse grounds.

U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., faced early criticism from Republicans who said he waffled on the issue.

Edwards said he supports the NAACP's boycott and planned to stay with friends, instead of in a hotel, while campaigning in South Carolina. However, Edwards' campaign leased office space in the state and his staff was given the OK to eat at restaurants and stay in motels.

NAACP leaders said they know candidates must spend money in the state and set up campaign operations in order to participate effectively in the primary.

Edwards continues to stay in supporters' homes in South Carolina, and while it adds a "new component - something (campaign) folks in other states have not had to deal with," it has not limited his trips to the state, said campaign spokeswoman Jenni Engebretsen.

Erwin said it's been a challenge planning primary events around touchy issues in South Carolina.

"As a party, we should be sensitive to those considerations. So many members of the NAACP are Democrats. Even if they weren't, some of those things that they care about - the MLK holiday - I care about on a personal level," Erwin said.

Democrats are not alone, however.

In February 2000, then-presidential candidate George W. Bush spoke at Bob Jones University. At the time, the school banned interracial dating and included anti-Roman Catholic material on its Web site.

The private Christian fundamentalist college has since dropped the dating ban but still maintains material questioning Catholicism on its Internet site.

Bush came under fire for the visit but defended it. He later wrote Cardinal John O'Connor of New York to apologize.

Although South Carolina's race issues are very sensitive, each state has its own sacred cows, Thigpen said. "It's the realities of the political terrain," he said.

Voters in New Hampshire, which holds the nation's first Democratic presidential primary, are sensitive about the local issue of logging, said New Hampshire Democratic Party spokeswoman Pamela Walsh. In the 2000 primary, a majority of voters there opposed President Clinton's forest management proposal, which allowed clearcutting in national forests and logging of ancient forests.

In Iowa, which holds an early Democratic presidential caucus, candidates must be sensitive to agricultural and organized labor issues, said Iowa Democratic Party spokesman Mark Daley.