The U.S., South Carolina and Confederate flags fly over the South Carolina state capitol building in Columbia. (AP photo)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — As Republican presidential candidates debated a few miles away, Confederate flag supporters began a three-day rally at the only statehouse where the flag still flies.

The event organized by the South Carolina Heritage Coalition shows "it's OK for us to care about and promote our heritage," said the Rev. Bobby Eubanks, a spokesman.

The Confederate flag is seen as symbol of hate by some opponents. But groups like those gathering at the rally see it as a symbol of Southern heritage.

South Carolina remains the only state that flies the flag above its Statehouse, and the NAACP has called for a tourism boycott of South Carolina until the Legislature brings it down. Many other business, civic and educational groups have joined the chorus, and freshman Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges is groping to find a compromise.

As each name of a fallen Confederate soldier was read Friday, a small, gold-colored bell was rung. By sundown, about 50 people had gathered, some in full battle dress, with bayonets and mess cups at their side. Supporters hoped to draw thousands to the rally.

"We are honoring these men who sacrificed everything they had," said Denise Woods of the Order of the Confederate Rose.

The group planned to spend a full day reading about 18,600 names from the Confederate Book of the Dead — about 7,400 others are illegible.

The reading was expected to be followed by a march today to the Statehouse from a cemetery that has numerous Confederate graves. A prayer service was set for Sunday.

H.K. Edgerton, a former NAACP chapter president from Asheville, N.C., joined in reading the names.

Too many people "can't understand the love black people and white had for each other in the South" he said. "If the NAACP is successful, all you will have done is alienated white people who have been very tolerant."

Meanwhile, the Republican candidates had little to say about the issue. It is an issue they have studiously have tried to avoid as they campaign for South Carolina's Feb. 19 first-in-the-South primary.

Publisher Steve Forbes and Texas Gov. George W. Bush both called it a local matter. Arizona Sen. John McCain said: "To me personally, I understand how it could be offensive to some people, but I had ancestors who fought in the Confederate Army and I thought they fought honorably."

McCain also said he had resented it when the NAACP announced a boycott of his state to pressure officials to approve a holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

As for the Democratic candidates, Vice President Al Gore "supports the right of the people of South Carolina to remove the Confederate flag," his spokeswoman Laura Quinn said.

"I wouldn't fly it," said his opponent, Bill Bradley.

Patrick Buchanan, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said Southerners "ought to be respected and so should the flag under which they fought and died."

South Carolina raised the Confederate flag over its Statehouse in 1962 to commemorate the Civil War's centennial.

Nine days from now, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People plans a rally aimed at getting the flag down and getting a permanent Martin Luther King Day for state workers, who now can take off that day or one of several tied to Confederate anniversaries.