The battle for votes is akin to trench warfare, and some say the African American community is being split down the middle as a result. Voters in Houston are already taking sides.

In Nevada Friday, leading democratic presidential contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton pushed for support in advance of Saturday’s caucuses.

While in Houston, there was no question who one group of black ministers is backing.

“The next president of the United States of America is Senator Barack Obama,” one minister said.

The coalition of local clergy members is the latest to draw sides in what’s become a deepening chasm within the black community, which pits supporters of both candidates against one another.

“He has the pulse and the heartbeat of the needs of the people in America today,” Rev. Remus Wright said.

But it wasn’t hard to find someone strongly in favor of the former first lady.

“They say the devil is in the details. So I think we have to move beyond the face value issues and take a look at the track record,” Clinton supporter Nata Koerber said.

A record Clinton has touted on the campaign trail, with Obama sellling himself as the candidate of hope and change.

Recent national polls suggest who black voters support has a lot to do with their age. It’s a generational divide which experts say seems apparent, even within the African American community here. Older blacks tend to support Clinton, and younger blacks are backing Obama.

“There are probably three dimensions to a voter that really matter this election season, and particularly for African Americans.  Age, gender ,and to some extent, age as it connects back to that civil rights movement,” political expert Bob Stein said.

That inspired change for some of the very same people who are now inspired to vote.