Sen. Carnahan urges parishioners to vote

ST. LOUIS -- Democratic Sen. Jean Carnahan campaigned from the pulpit on Sunday, telling black congregations in St. Louis they can make the difference in her close race against Republican Jim Talent.

Carnahan urged parishioners of three churches to go to the polls on Election Day.

"They say in the paper, I read today that if the lines in the African-American community on Election Day are brisk, Jean Carnahan will win," she told about 120 members of New Northside Baptist Church. "And if I win, we will change the Senate. We will be able to hold onto that one vote that makes a difference."

Introduced by the local congressman, Democratic Rep. William Lacy Clay, and by state Sen. Betty Thompson, Carnahan told about campaigning in St. Louis with U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, a civil rights leader who was beaten in the 1965 "bloody Sunday" march in Selma, Ala.

'Have to stand together'

She related a story Lewis told about growing up in a "shotgun house" -- two rooms, one behind the other, built in poorer areas of the South. When strong winds threatened the flimsy structure, his mother would have her children gather in the corner to hold down the foundation.

"He said, 'The strength of our little bodies held that house in place,'" Carnahan said. "You know, we're going to have to stand together on Tuesday and hold things in place by the strength of our bodies."

Later in the day, she appeared with three other U.S. senators -- Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell of Washington state and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. Sharing the stage, at a theater in suburban University City, was Ellen Malcolm, president of EMILY's List, which raises money for Democratic women who support abortion rights.

Their get-out-the-vote message was similar, as they emphasized that Stabenow and Cantwell trailed in polls at this point in 2000.

"Women don't fold their arms and wait until the polls close on Election Day," Murray told about 400 female supporters, many wearing Statue of Liberty hats and waving "Pro-Choice, Pro-Carnahan" signs. "They go out and vote."

Ministers who hosted the lawmakers made a point of not advocating Carnahan's candidacy and said Republicans would have been welcome had they asked to come.

"If we don't vote, we don't count. That's all I'm going to say," said the Rev. Willie Ellis Jr., pastor of New Northside.

Carnahan had visited these churches in earlier years with her husband, the late Gov. Mel Carnahan. After she spoke at Bethesda Temple, an image of her and Carnahan flashed on giant screens behind the dais as the choir sang "God Bless America."

She told New Northside members how their pastor and other black clergymen prayed with her at the Governor's Mansion just before a memorial service for Mel Carnahan, who died in a plane crash in October 2000 while campaigning for the Senate seat she is now seeking to retain.

"I was lower than a snake's belly along about that time," she said. "And they gathered with me, stood by me, lifted me up in prayer. And I tell you, to this day, I know that that's what got me through."