Obama Visits MLK's Church

Senator speaks of 'empathy deficit' as Clinton campaigns in Harlem
By Wesley Oliver,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 20, 2008 7:50 PM CST
Obama Visits MLK's Church
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., points to a questioner as she stands with Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts outside the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York's Harlem section Sunday, Jan. 20, 2008. Butts endorsed Clinton's candidacy during a news conference after church...   (Associated Press)

On the eve of Martin Luther King, Jr. day, Barack Obama visited the civil rights leader’s old church and repeated his mantra of unity, the Chicago Tribune reports. “If enough Americans were awakened to the injustice,” Obama said, “if they joined together, then perhaps that wall would come tumbling down." Atlanta's mayor attended the event, which coincided with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's endorsement of Obama.

Fresh from yesterday’s narrow Nevada caucus loss, Obama quoted Bible verses and urged the nation to close its “empathy deficit.” Hillary Clinton also played to a church crowd today while campaigning in Harlem. Both candidates hope African-Americans and Hispanics will power them to victories in upcoming state votes. Bill Clinton and Mike Huckabee will also court black voters at Dr. King’s church tomorrow. (More Hillary Clinton stories.)

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