MELISSA BLOCK, Host:
This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Melissa Block.
Today in Atlanta, dignitaries and preachers paid tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. While they remember the civil rights leader, they also dipped into election year politics. Two former Arkansas governors were there, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and former President Bill Clinton.
NPR's Carrie Kahn reports.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "BLESS THE LORD, OH MY SOUL)
Unidentified Group: (Singing) Bless the Lord, Oh my soul, and praise...
CARRIE KAHN: As the choir sang "Bless the Lord, Oh My Soul" to a packed crowd at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, President Clinton and Mike Huckabee shared the first pew separated by members of the King family. Rafael Warnock, senior pastor, reminded all in attendance that the King holiday is not about a day off, but a day on. A time to recommit to the fight for social justice.
RAFAEL WARNOCK: And so celebrate Dr. King. Remember his legacy. But then go out from this place saying, "If I can help somebody as I pass along, If I can cheer somebody with a word or a song, if I can show somebody, if I can show Washington that they are travelling wrong, then my living will not be in vain."
KAHN: Presidential hopefuls are stumping throughout the South. Senator Barack Obama spoke yesterday at Ebenezer Church. But it was Atlanta's Mayor Shirley Franklin who steered today's service straight in to the race for president.
SHIRLEY FRANKLIN: Georgia is on the mind of the next president of the United States.
KAHN: Georgia moved up its primary to be included in next month's Super Tuesday. Franklin, who is an Obama supporter, said who would believe that in 2008, America is poised to elect a leader from such varied background.
FRANKLIN: And a mill worker's son, a first lady, a Mormon, a Baptist preacher and even, ladies and gentlemen, a black man.
KAHN: With the crowd on its feet and Bill Clinton politely clapping in the front row, Mayor Franklin commented that Obama's candidacy is not a fantasy or a fairytale, referring to the former president's controversial remarks about the Obama campaign. But as Bill Clinton took his turn at the pulpit, he easily defused any residual tension with the African-American community. And cognizant of his delicate position as an invited orator and his wife's campaign surrogate, he continued undeterred.
BILL CLINTON: Mayor Franklin already took care of whatever political dilemma I have. She's got all of it. I wouldn't have said it quite the way she did, but she got it all out there, that is sure.
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KAHN: Bill Clinton reminded those gathered that it was because of King's vision of the beloved community that so many different people could be vying for the U.S. presidency.
CLINTON: Governor Huckabee may be getting his votes because he's a Baptist preacher, but there as I can tell, he's not losing any. In Nevada, Governor Romney probably won because he was a Mormon, but there as I can tell, he hadn't been eliminated because he's a Mormon. And Hillary and Senator Obama (unintelligible), they may be getting votes because of race or gender, but near as I can tell, they're not losing any. This is a great thing.
KAHN: Bringing it back to the message of the day, Bishop Vashti McKenzie urged the crowd to stir up the consciousness of people everywhere. With the congregation on its feet, McKenzie called on people to value their roots but also to widen their circle of concern to include those who don't look like them or speak their language.
VASHTI MURPHY MCKENZIE: Every year we come to rehearse the dream, nurse the dream, research the dream, massage the dream, revise the dream, remember the dream. I dare you to come back next year not in the same place where you are this year.
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KAHN: As McKenzie, the first female bishop elected in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, close to thunderous applause, President Clinton and former Arkansas Governor Huckabee shook hands and exchanged a quick hug.
Carrie Kahn, NPR News.