Trelvis Miller likes to joke that Al Sharpton is spending so much time in South Carolina that he might as well move here.

Sharpton, the 48-year-old preacher and civil rights activist from New York, has visited the state 13 times -- more than any other Democratic presidential candidate -- since stepping into the race in January.

Almost any weekend, Sharpton can be found addressing black churches that dot the landscape from Columbia to Charleston.

Over the long Labor Day weekend, Sharpton was scheduled to make appearances in Lake City, Kingstree, Sycamore, Allendale, Charleston and Effingham.

"This is a grass-roots campaign organized in the churches," said Miller, Sharpton's deputy campaign manager in South Carolina. "We have to go where the people congregate, and that's the churches or funerals."

Sharpton is the first black Democrat to make a White House bid since Jesse Jackson in 1988. That gives Sharpton enhanced standing because black voters are the party's most loyal constituents.

"South Carolina is critical for us," Miller said.

Sharpton's visits to the Palmetto State are part of his campaign for the state's first-in-the-South primary Feb. 3. About 30 percent of South Carolinians are black, making the state the Democratic candidates' first test with a large black population.

Sharpton hopes to win a sizable share of the state's black voters. By some estimates, they could account for a majority of the turnout on primary day.

In the 2000 general election, the last year exit polling data were available, 54 percent of the Democratic vote was black.

Kevin Gray, state campaign consultant for Sharpton, predicts the black vote could reach as high as 60 percent and adds, "I expect Al to do very well."

"Good preaching goes a long ways in the black community," Gray said.

Eight other candidates are seeking the Democratic nomination: U.S. Sens. Bob Graham of Florida, John Edwards of North Carolina, John Kerry of Massachusetts and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut; former U.S. Sen. Carol Mosley Braun of Illinois; U.S. Reps. Dick Gephardt of Missouri and Dennis Kucinich of Ohio; and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

"If you look at the white candidates, they are not speaking the language blacks understand," Gray said. "Al is the only one speaking their language."

Sharpton has a gift for connecting with Democratic audiences. His jokes and anti-Bush one-liners have made him a crowd-pleaser.

How can President Bush oppose affirmative action, Sharpton asks, when "he's the biggest recipient of a set-aside program. The Supreme Court set aside a whole election to put him in the White House."

The question is whether Sharpton's stump charisma will translate into more black voters at the polls.

"My gut tells me no," Clemson University political scientist Bruce Ransom said. "Sharpton is good with one-liners and is going to get attention and be invited to speak because he is entertaining.

"But as we get closer to the primary, voters are going to think seriously about their vote and its impact. Blacks, like all voters, want a winner."

Gray said Sharpton's campaign adopted a church strategy because the candidate doesn't have the money to go on TV. According to the last quarterly campaign finance report filed with the Federal Election Commission, Sharpton had raised only $137,000.

In addition to hitting the churches, Sharpton is talking to students and registering voters. The goal is to sign up 300,000 voters by primary day.

"South Carolina is our focus point," said Miller, a member of the Orangeburg City Council. "Every black that gets the opportunity to hear Sharpton speak, at least 70 to 80 percent of them will turn out for Sharpton.

"He is going to galvanize a large percentage of the blacks, and we hope he takes in some white voters, too."

But Ransom remains unconvinced.

"I don't see it happening."