``This is a profound moral and ethical challenge for all of us,'' Jackson said. ``And emotions are running high - understandably so - because we are watching a woman be starved and dehydrated to death.''

The Florida Senate twice rejected legislation that would have intervened in the incapacitated woman's final days.

Jackson and others supporting Schiavo's parents pressed for political strategies that could have continued the fight, but the effort was too little, too late.

``I'm not sure what is left for us to do, but as the reverend says, we're going to make our best effort and continue to make this process available for democracy to work,'' said Lee, R-Brandon.

Jackson's high-profile tour of the Capitol began with an eyebrow-raising meeting with Bush.

The civil rights activist, onetime Democratic presidential candidate and Bush-family foe doesn't typically share common ground with the conservative Republican governor. But they stood together Wednesday, making a joint appearance before reporters after a private meeting.

``I appreciate Reverend Jackson's compassionate interest in this case,'' Bush said. ``For a man of his stature and commitment to the rights of all to come in a very nonpolitical, but compassionate way, to express his concern is something I appreciate.''

Jackson met with key lawmakers who might have been able to bring the issue back to the Senate floor. Nine Republican senators joined 12 Democrats on two votes declining to intervene in the Schiavo case.

Any one of those 21 senators could have moved to reconsider. But a Senate session came and went Wednesday with no such motion.

The Senate also could have entertained a motion to waive its rules to revisit the issue. But that strategy would have required two-thirds approval in the 40-member chamber, and the votes weren't there.

``The reverend has a deep relationship with the African- American community and the black caucus,'' Lee said. ``I understood that he had been talking to several members of the black caucus, and it was my expectation that one of them would rise to reconsider. None of those individuals ever rose to make such a motion.''

Early Wednesday, Bush pinned his hopes on appeals by his office in a federal appeals court in Atlanta. That court declined to intervene.

Jackson said he was originally reluctant to get involved in the Schiavo case because of the personal nature of end-of- life decisions. He said he was contacted by Mary Schindler, Terri Schiavo's mother, to help the family.

Schiavo's parents are battling her husband, who has insisted she did not want to live in a persistent vegetative state and sought to have the feeding tube removed.

Later Wednesday, a more resigned Jackson had returned to the Pinellas Park hospice where Schiavo lay.

``Don't get bitter,'' he told demonstrators. ``We must learn even from the tragedies of our lives.''

Reporter Anthony McCartney contributed to this report. Reporter Jerome R. Stockfisch can be reached at (850) 222-8382.