Democrats Find Religion in South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C.<br>Jan. 24, 3008 &#151; -- If you want to find out where a Democratic presidential candidate stands, find a seat this week in a South Carolina pew.

Religious voters are set to play an unprecedented role in the South Carolina Democratic primary -- particularly in the African-American community, which is expected to comprise roughly half of likely Democratic voters in Saturday's primary.

That's turned churches across the state into hubs of political organizing activity. Church leaders are running voter-registration drives and arranging for rides to polling places. Campaigns are setting up discussion groups in church meeting rooms.

Candidates and surrogates are fanning out to historically black churches. And congregation lobbies are turning into information clearinghouses, where potential voters can pick up information about candidates.

"People go to church here like you go to lunch, so you know, if there's an event at church, you go to church," said Marnie Robinson, the marketing manager at Brookland Baptist Church in Columbia; Robinson also handles faith outreach for the campaign.

It was Gospel Café night at Brookland Baptist on a recent Friday, and the menu included jazz, chicken fingers and politicking. Brochures proclaim Obama to be a "COMMITTED CHRISTIAN" -- pushing back at Internet rumors that Obama is a Muslim.

"If they don't know who he is, they're going to know after they pick up the literature tonight," Robinson said.

Obama has the most robust presence in and around churches -- one factor in his apparent advantage among African-American voters, political observers say.

The Clinton and Edwards campaigns have also been aggressively reaching out to religious voters; in one odd scene over the weekend, Chelsea Clinton and Michelle Obama attended the same church service, in Columbia.

All the campaigns know that churches provide some of their best opportunities to reach likely voters, said Terry M. Riley, a city council member from Kansas City, Mo., who was dispatched to the Charleston area by the Obama campaign.