ATLANTA - On the Sunday before Election Day, preachers told blackchurchgoers across the country to get out and vote - and defypredictions that they'll be complacent or uninterested in a yearthat President Barack Obama isn't on the ballot.
Tying the vote to nostalgia and obligation, black pastors invokedthe civil rights movement and Obama's historic 2008 victory. AtEbenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta - the spiritual home of the Rev.Martin Luther King Jr. - the Rev. Raphael G. Warnock warnedattendees that not voting would be nothing short of a sin.
"Go to the polls Tuesday in the name of our ancestors," Warnocksaid to cheering listeners who rose to their feet. "Know that yourballot is a blood-stained ballot. This is a sacred obligation."
Among those in the pews in black churches across the country wereDemocratic candidates hoping congregations would heed the message.Indeed, many pastors and worshippers said this election was moreimportant than 2008, with Democrats struggling to hold on to largemajorities in the House and Senate and Obama still working to puthis agenda in place. Several voters said in interviews with TheAssociated Press that they planned to get to the polls, believingObama needs more time to implement his plans.
The black electorate, one of the Democratic Party's most loyalconstituencies, voted in record numbers to help elect the country'sfirst African-American president two years ago, and Democrats arehoping at least some of that enthusiasm hasn't faded. Obama has inrecent weeks tied a midterm vote for Democrats to continued supportfor his agenda - even as some candidates distance themselves fromthe president, who along with his policies has become less popularwith the economy continuing to sputter.
Polls indicate that minority voters may not turn out at the samelevel as they did two years ago, but analysts say a solid showingamong blacks could still swing several House, Senate andgubernatorial races, especially in the South.
Mike Thurmond, currently Georgia's labor commissioner, currentlylags behind popular GOP incumbent Sen. Johnny Isakson. Thurmond -hoping to become the state's first black senator - attended GreaterSt. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church in Atlanta as he made hiscampaign rounds Sunday. Thurmond said the polls are flat wrong.
"This whole notion about a lack of enthusiasm was an illusion,and a propaganda scheme at worst, designed to depress turnout," hesaid.
At the historic Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church inMontgomery, Ala., the Rev. Michael Thurman opened his sermon Sundayby asking parishioners to vote. He said he did not endorse anycandidates, but he said this election would be even more importantthan 2008's historic vote.
"This one's going to decide the direction that the nation goes infrom here," Thurman said.
The sea of negative political ads - many accusing Democraticcandidates of being a rubber stamp for Obama's agenda - has quelledthe enthusiasm of many black voters, said Calvin Johns, a retiredmedical doctor. African-Americans could be especially key to BlueDog Democrat Bobby Bright, who narrowly won his first term two yearsago with the help of black voters.
"To me it seems like whatever candidate they are talking about,the negative ads are talking about President Obama," Johns said."Most people seem disconnected to the candidates."
In the small West Tennessee town of Brownsville, about 100congregants sang and prayed at St. John Baptist Church on Sunday.Some worshippers came from as far as Jackson, Tenn., about 30 milesaway, to attend the services led by pastor Johnny Shaw.
Shaw is also a state Representative, a Democrat from nearbyBolivar. During the service, he asked congregants to pray for theirleaders, including the president. Later, he urged them to vote,regardless of for whom they cast a ballot.
After the service, disabled veteran Stoney Springfield said heplanned to vote for Democrats on Election Day but still wasfinalizing his decisions.
Springfield said he thinks Obama has done "an excellent job,"despite dealing with issues left over from the Republicanadministration of George W. Bush. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistanbegan under Bush, and the economy had started to falter before Obamatook office.
"He inherited a lot of these problems that we're dealing with,"said Springfield, 48, of Jackson, Tenn. "He's trying to adjusteverything to where we can have a better future."
As did several black pastors on Sunday, the Rev. George McRae,pastor of Mount Tabor Missionary Baptist Church in Miami's toughLiberty City neighborhood, invoked the civil rights struggle.
"Even though thousands of our brothers and sisters had to die inthe struggle that we might be able to go in a voting booth and votefor the candidate of our choice, thank you, Lord!" McRae said at thepulpit.
Among the congregants in McRae's church: U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek,Florida's Democratic nominee for Senate, and his mother, CarrieMeek, who was one of the first blacks elected to the U.S. House fromFlorida since Reconstruction. If he wins Tuesday - a long shotaccording to most observers - Meek would be Florida's first blacksenator.
Some worshippers lamented that the calls of "Yes, We Can!" fromtwo years ago have faded.
At Friendship Baptist Church in Toledo, Ohio, 52-year-old SandraGill said she planned to take her pastor's advice and vote. However,she said, church members aren't making phone calls, wearing Obama t-shirts and buttons, and hosting voting parties like they did in2008.
"There was excitement two years ago," she said. "We still have tokeep the momentum going. We had a sense of pride. There was afeeling that we can do this. Maybe people feel we did what we neededto do."
Then, people voted for change, said 45-year-old Camelia Matthewson her way to the late service at the Mother African Union Church inWilmington, Del. Matthews, who voted for Obama, pledged to voteTuesday.
"I would like to help Obama with what his office is trying todo," she said.
The church was arranging transportation to the polls for peoplelike JoeAnn Conyer, 89, who said she's anxious to vote in the U.S.Senate race for Democrat Chris Coons. Coons is leading in the pollsagainst GOP tea party favorite Christine O'Donnell.
Conyer said Obama inherited "a lot of baggage" when he tookoffice and deserves more time to get the country back on track.
"He's not doing all this on his own," she said.
Cheryl Moore, 61, similarly explained her duty to vote, sayingObama can be successful only if those in Congress understand whatcommon people are going through.
"It's important that we make sure the balance of power remainsthe balance of power," said Moore, who voted for Obama in 2008.
"He needs more time."
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Associated Press Writers Bob Johnson in Montgomery, Adrian Sainzin Brownsville, Tenn., Jennifer Kay in Miami, John Seewer in Toledo,Ohio, and Randall Chase in Wilmington, Del., contributed to thisreport.
AP-ES-10-31-10 1621EDT
