The library ran afoul of the Arizona senator last month when he learned its computers were often used by a group of adults, including a convicted sex offender, to gain access to sexually explicit material in the presence of children -- and that there were no restrictions on what sites children could reach.

"That this scourge can exist in this beautiful, religiously grounded, family-friendly town points out the enormity of the crisis," he said. "If you walk into any library and ask for a Hustler magazine the library will tell you it's not available because it's inappropriate. Yet a child can log on to the library computer and surf the Web for some of the most degrading and shocking pornography available."

McCain disagreed with the American Library Association's assertion that unlimited Internet access was free speech.

He suggested libraries use Web filtering devices to limit access to sexually explicit material.

"When a mother or father drops their child off at the library they are entrusting the welfare of their child with the librarian," he said.

South Carolina Republican Reps. Lindsey Graham and Mark Sanford, as well as state legislators accompanied McCain in the sweltering basement auditorium built to accommodate 250 people but packed with an estimated 500. At least one person passed out from the heat, but was unhurt.

McCain's visit coincided with a poll conducted by the Strom Thurmond Institute at Clemson University that showed him well behind Texas Gov. George W. Bush but making up ground in the state.

Trey Walker, McCain's national field director, said, "We have to do exactly what we did in this room today. The more people who find out what John McCain's about the better we'll do."