The Dumb Defense

"Lord have mercy," Powell cries. "Is the baby all right?"

The baby and everyone else appear to be OK. Powell dials 911 but ends the call before she gets an answer. "I learned that if I hang up, I'll get a person," she says.

Her phone rings.

"See, I told you."

Two other candidates have entered the primary: Brandon Ellington, a 26-year-old student at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and Sharon Sanders-Brooks, a state representative who couldn't run again because of term limits.

The race will not be decided by policy differences. Powell and Ellington talk about lifting the 3rd District through education — something in which council members have little say. Sanders-Brooks is stumped when asked what issues she planned to raise during the campaign. "I'm kind of reluctant to go into this now," she says. "Can I get back with you?"

None of the challengers indicates an eagerness to make the campaign about McFadden-Weaver's woes. "We already have too many negative comments in the black community," Ellington says. Powell shrugs when asked about the incumbent. "She's a nice person. You're not going to get me to say anything bad about her, if that's what you want." Powell does say that the 3rd District has been "neglected."

The Citizens Association agreed with Powell that the 3rd has received poor representation. McFadden-Weaver received zero votes when the group chose its slate of candidates.

The Community Fellowship Church of Jesus Christ meets in a brick building south of 39th Street on Cleaver II Boulevard, near the Roberts dairy and a Conoco station.

Ushers guide visitors to the front pews during a Sunday service. Dress is casual. The church encourages members to wear knit and denim shirts bearing the church logo: a bleeding hand cradling a globe and a cross.

Community Fellowship started meeting in 1996, after it splintered from Mariah Walker, the African Methodist Episcopal church where McFadden-Weaver ministered before she left the denomination. Community Fellowship has a feminine character; its officers are all women.

It is the first Sunday after the mortgage-fraud charges were announced. A bearded worship leader named Robbie Hawkins asks the Almighty to give McFadden-Weaver strength. "We ask, God, that you be the wind beneath her wings," he says.

Later, church chairwoman June White addresses the accusations from the pulpit. She describes attending an ethics commission hearing. "You know this is nothing but a lie," she says.

Wearing a tan knit shirt and a long black skirt, McFadden-Weaver begins her sermon with a gospel song, "Stand." The song talks about perseverance. A powerful alto, McFadden-Weaver delivers the lyrics with conviction. During the song, an usher brings a wad of tissues to a weeping woman nearly overcome with emotion.

McFadden-Weaver's preaching is as dramatic and forceful as her singing. "Somebody, pop up like popcorn!" she says when she wants a church member to read a Bible verse.

McFadden-Weaver makes only passing references to the indictment. Toward the end of her sermon, McFadden-Weaver asks the congregation for solidarity during her time of struggle. "If I'm under attack, then we're all under attack," she says.

Her words elicit murmurs of agreement.