ORANGEBURG, S.C. - For the presidential hopefuls who'll soon crowd into South Carolina, Carolina Avelia represents the challenge of the Palmetto State.

She's 42, college educated and, with a nurse's paycheck, solidly in the middle class. She's also black and a Democrat, putting her in a demographic group that could make up half of the votes in the Feb. 3 primary.

Like many in Orangeburg, the cradle of South Carolina's civil rights movement and the intellectual heart of its black community, Avelia hears plenty from the candidates through visits, phone calls and mailings.

But she's yet to hear anything convincing.

"I feel like maybe I should be a Republican, except I would never do that," Avelia said. "I like how George Bush talks about his faith, about the role Jesus Christ plays...

"I think I should (vote) since we actually have a voice this time. But none of these boys has shown me that he's the one yet."

Assumptions about black voters -- that they're more liberal and prefer to vote for blacks, that they care most about affirmative action and race relations -- often don't hold up here.

Orangeburg's black electorate has many of the same economic and security concerns as other voters, can be just as conservative on social issues as Republican neighbors and has so far split its loyalties among the seven Democrats running for president.

Winning votes in this city is important, and difficult.

"A place like Orangeburg is in a lot of ways a much better test of these candidates and their ability to win nationally than either Iowa or New Hampshire, because what we care about is much more mainstream, much more centrist," said S.C. Rep. Jerry Govan, D-Orangeburg. "If you can win here, you can win in the South. And if you're going to win the White House, you're going to have to win here first."

`This is where the votes are'

Located 140 miles south of Charlotte, Orangeburg is home to two historically black colleges, private Claflin University and public S.C. State University. Just 12,000 people live within the city limits, but there are an additional 50,000 or so within a 10 mile radius, 65 percent of them black.That's an enticing pocket of potential votes for the Democratic presidential candidates. Howard Dean and retired Gen. Wesley Clark have opened Orangeburg offices. Almost all the candidates have visited, and as Feb 3. approaches, they are wooing and re-wooing local leaders.

"This is where the votes are," said Blair Talmadge, a 41-year-old political consultant who has temporarily moved to Orangeburg for the Clark campaign. "We have to be here."

Orangeburg County's unemployment rate rose to 15 percent in November, fourth highest in the state, so jobs are a priority. Three soldiers from Orangeburg, all graduates of Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School and all black, have died in Iraq, so the community is rethinking the war. Crime is up; city leaders blame economic problems.

"More than anything, I want a candidate who talks about the future," said Dorie Boyce, an S.C. State senior volunteering for Clark. "I want to hear about getting jobs and scholarships, things that make a difference to me."

George Dean, 62-year-old owner of a downtown clothing store, ticks off his top three issues -- "Jobs, jobs, jobs" -- then waves his wallet in the air for emphasis.

"As a small-business owner, I know when the economy isn't up a long time before Washington," he said. "I want the candidates to respect the need for affirmative action. But I'm voting with my wallet, not my skin tone."

And yet ...

Dean, who helped integrate the S.C. National Guard in 1965, is deciding between Clark and Howard Dean.

He watched the Jan. 11 debate in which Al Sharpton -- the only African American now left in the race for the Democratic nomination -- questioned why Howard Dean had no black or Hispanic cabinet members during his five terms as governor of Vermont.

"I heard what Howard (Dean) said, although I haven't decided how important it is yet," he says, tapping his forehead. "You can tell Howard the good folks of Orangeburg are listening."

Legacy of 3 deaths in '68

As George Dean suggests, race is always a potential issue in Orangeburg, with its proud and painful legacy.

On Feb. 8, 1968, state troopers fired shotguns at students protesting segregation at a bowling alley. Three young men died in what became known as the Orangeburg Massacre.

There are few reminders of that protest in this city. Downtown Orangeburg is a palmetto-lined stretch of storefronts, many black-owned. They sit in the shadow of a monument to Confederate dead.

"We have de-emphasized 1968, and we will continue to de-emphasize it," said Mayor Paul Miller, a white Republican. "Most of us want to concentrate on what we have in common. Blacks and whites here share a lot of concerns."

Some longtime residents and activists worry that downplaying or sanitizing Orangeburg's legacy -- the mayor makes little quote marks in the air with his hands when he discusses the Orangeburg "Massacre" -- will lead to voter apathy. It's already hard to get blacks to the polls, community organizers say.

"We have to remember where we came from, how rarely we get candidates visiting us or paying attention to us, because that's part of why this is so important," said Larry Bascombe, a 63-year-old auto-repair shop owner.

That, Bascombe says, is why he's supporting Dean rather than Sharpton. "Al can't win," he says. "... If we're going to get something lasting out of this, we have to get behind somebody who can."

So far, black leaders in Orangeburg and across South Carolina have split their support wildly.

Govan, the state legislator, endorsed U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. Colleagues in the Legislative Black Caucus are split among Dean, Clark and U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

"Everyone has their candidate; everyone is being courted," said Govan, who has heard from all of the candidates. "I don't think it's a bad thing that we're all backing different people. I think it means these candidates really have to work to get our votes."

Trelvis Miller, a 27-year-old Orangeburg City Council member, disagrees heartily. He's working for Sharpton, whom he calls "The Rev."

"They're ignoring the long-term impact of having a black candidate walk into the (Democrats' national) convention with delegates in his pocket," he said of those who have endorsed others.

Campaign signs are starting to blossom on Orangeburg's street corners. Clark's red-white-and-blue signs lead the way, followed by Dean's blue and yellow, with the occasional Edwards.

There are no Sharpton signs, but Miller says that won't matter.

"The people of South Carolina, certainly the people of Orangeburg, are going to realize that somebody like Howard Dean is only going to use their vote and then discard them," he says. "Those other guys may be on the signs. Al is in our hearts."