Keyes Visits Bob Jones U.

Republican presidential candidate Alan Keyes began his final week of the South Carolina GOP primary campaign
at a place usually skipped by African-Americans.

Keyes, a black Catholic married to a woman from India, stood in the pulpit Monday at Bob Jones University, a school that once refused admission to blacks and still bars interracial dating.

The former diplomat, who is mired in third place far behind George W. Bush and John McCain, in the Republican race, defended his decision to appear at the controversial school - and called for an end to religious and racial intolerance.

"There are folks who told me I shouldn't come here because I am a black man and, I say it with pride, a Roman Catholic Christian, and I would not be received in that place on that account," Keyes told a crowd of about 6,500 at Founder's Memorial Amphitorium on the school's campus.

"I have, thankfully, put the lie to that by coming." he added.

Keyes spent the morning at the 5,000-student school, a center of South Carolina's conservative Christian community. He said some questioned what he was doing at a place that did not admit blacks in the 1970s - and whose leader strongly backed Greenville County, South Carolina's anti-gay resolution in 1996.

But Keyes replied he came to challenge the community to cast aside the demons of "sectarian bigotry or any racial prejudice that stands in the way of the unity Christ represents for Christian people."

Gov. Bush's appearance at Bob Jones earlier this month continued to draw criticism on Monday, this time from one of his supporters. New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told CBS Radio affiliate WROW-AM in Albany that it was "a mistake" for Bush to speak at the university without addressing the racial issue.

"If you were going to go, then probably the speech should have taken on the issue," said Giuliani, a Republican running for the U.S. Senate against Hillary Rodham Clinton, the First Lady and a Democrat.

On Sunday, Bush defended his appearance at Bob Jones, saying his visit should not be construed as an endorsement of all the school's policies.

"There were 6,000 students and voters there. I went because I wanted to get out my message of compassionate conservatism..." said Bush, whose sister-in-law --- the wife of Florida governor Jeb Bush --- is of Mexican descent.

"When I go to speak to voters, I don't necessarily have to embrace the policies of the university," he added.

Giuliani also said Monday that he thinks the Texas governor will still win the crucial South Carolina primary on Saturday. But if Bush loses to McCain, Giuliani predicts New York's March 7 primary will become a major battleground.

Senator McCain told CBS' Face The Nation on Sunay that he had no plans to visit Bob Jones - and would condemn its policies if he appeared there.

But such an invite is hardly forthcoming.

"He will not be invited," said the university's president, Bob Jones III.