By Gregory Korte
Enquirer staff writer

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry peers through slats of the slave pen at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center during a visit Wednesday. AFP/Getty Images/HECTOR MATA

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry met privately with leaders of Cincinnati's African-American religious and political community after becoming the latest dignitary to tour the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

Kerry's visit to the center Wednesday came two days after President Bush made a similar trip Monday. Both candidates addressed the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Cincinnati this week.

Kerry's leisurely tour took three times longer than Bush's 20-minute trip, and Kerry's handlers allowed the candidate to be photographed inside the 19th-century slave pen - one of the center's most powerful exhibits.

"They needed to stay there chained to where they were? How long would the chain stretch?" an inquisitive Kerry asked Freedom Center president Ed Rigaud and executive director Spencer Crew.

"But can you move? ... What about food? ... What would people do to relieve themselves?"

Although the Freedom Center closed during Bush's tour Monday, it remained open to visitors Wednesday as it prepared for its dedication Monday.

The White House confirmed Wednesday that First Lady Laura Bush would speak.

Kerry moved through the crowds, signing autographs and posing for pictures.

"What a beautiful museum," he told a group that included a young man in a Cincinnati Bengals jersey. "It also prompts me to go back to the history books and reread some things."

The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, an Avondale pastor who is president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, was one of Kerry's tour guides. He said the visit wasn't just a photo opportunity.

"It makes something move inside of you, and I could see him looking at things and digesting it and shaking his head, as if it's painful to him," Shuttlesworth said. "I was surprised he spent as much time as he did."

After the tour, Kerry answered questions from black clergymen and elected officials in a 50-minute meeting. Participants included Christian Methodist Episcopal Bishop E. Lynn Brown, the Rev. H.L. Harvey of the New Friendship Baptist Church in Avondale, the Rev. Damon Lynch Jr. of the New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Carthage, the Rev. Rousseau O'Neil of Rockdale Baptist Church in Avondale, and Bishop Dwight Wilkins of the Macedonia Living Word Fellowship in Springdale. Political leaders included Cincinnati mayoral candidate and state Sen. Mark Mallory, D-West End, state Rep. Tyrone K. Yates, D-Walnut Hills, and state Rep. Catherine Barrett, D-College Hill, and Cincinnati Empowerment Corp. CEO Harold Cleveland.

"One minister rattled off six things. (Kerry) wrote them all down and addressed them one by one," said Shuttlesworth, who was impressed with Kerry's "unperturbed tone."

The topics discussed were wide-ranging: gay marriage, federal judges, prescription drugs, the war in Iraq and support for historically black colleges and universities.

As Kerry met with the clergymen, he just missed running into U.S. Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans, chairman of Bush's 2000 campaign, who was buying $71 worth of merchandise in the center's gift shop. Evans was at the center to announce a $2 million grant for riverfront development.

"It's powerful. It's what this country is all about - freedom for everybody," Evans said later of his visit. "You want every American to see that message."

E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com