Kerry Courts Black Voters at
Church Stops
story.news.yahoo.com
Politics - AP
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
MIAMI - With just three Sundays left before Election Day, Sen. John
Kerry is asking for all the help he can get from black
voters and the Almighty.
The Democratic presidential nominee
attended two church services Sunday,
instead of his usual one, worshipping first
with Haitian Catholics and then with
Baptists, where the Rev. Jesse Jackson
and Al Sharpton tied his election to the civil rights
struggle.
"We have an unfinished march in this
nation," Kerry said at Friendship Missionary
Baptist Church, as many congregants
waved fans handed out by the campaign
with his slogan, "Hope is on the way."
"Never again will a million African Americans
be denied the right to exercise their vote in
the United States of America," Kerry
promised, referring to the disputed Florida
recount in the 2000 presidential race. As he
often does before black audiences, Kerry
said he has a legal team that will
aggressively respond to any allegations of
disenfranchisement.
Black turnout is key to Kerry's plan for
victory in Florida and elsewhere - less than
10 percent of black voters nationally
supported George W. Bush in 2000. But
Kerry's campaign says there have been
efforts to turn religious blacks against him
based on his support for abortion rights and
civil unions for same-sex couples.
Jackson told worshippers their political
concerns are issues that touch their
everyday lives, not gay marriage.
"I see disturbing signs today that some of
our churches have been confused by wolves
in sheep's clothing," Jackson said. "How did
someone else put their agenda in the front of the line?"
"November 2, the power is in your hands, hands that once picked
cotton," Jackson said.
Added Sharpton: "Everything we have fought for, marched for, gone to jail
for - some died for - could be reversed if the wrong people are put on
the Supreme Court."
Speakers avoided criticizing President Bush (news - web sites) by
name, since they were in church, but he was indirectly vilified.
Former Rep. Carrie Meek said Kerry is "fighting against liars and
demons. ... He challenges the man who walks with a jaunty step." She
rocked her hips in an imitation of Bush's swagger as the congregation
cheered and Kerry laughed from his high-backed seat behind the pulpit.
Bush did not campaign on Sunday, instead spending the day at his
Texas ranch riding his bike, working around the property and engaging in
informal preparations for the campaign's final debate. Vice President
Dick Cheney (news - web sites) also stayed off the campaign trail, while
Kerry running mate John Edwards (news - web sites) appeared on the
five Sunday talk shows before heading to the Midwest.
In Washington, Republican Party chief Ed Gillespie criticized Kerry for
saying in an interview in The New York Times Magazine that, "We have
to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of
our lives, but they're a nuisance."
"This demonstrates a disconcerting pre-September 11 mind-set that will
not make our country safer," Gillespie said on "Face the Nation" on
CBS. "And that is what we see relative to winning the war on terror and
relative to Iraq (news - web sites)."
Hours later, Bush's re-election campaign announced a new television ad
that plays off of Kerry's interview comment. "Terrorism ... a nuisance?
How can Kerry protect us when he doesn't understand the threat?" the
ad says. The campaign said the ad would run on national cable
television networks and the campaign's Web site.
In Florida, Kerry, who is Catholic, also attended Mass at St. James
Catholic Church. Aides said it was for his own personal worship rather
than for any campaigning.
Or, as Kerry told a teenager who asked him Saturday night if he can get
rid of standardized tests, "You do a lot more praying during exams than
any other time of the year."
Kerry was arriving in New Mexico late Sunday to
prepare for the third and final presidential debate on
Wednesday in Tempe, Ariz.
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