Rebel Flag protestor leaving beach _ for now.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

GULFPORT, Miss. _ Jason Whitfield, who at least for now has called off his sit-in at the Eight Flags beach display, says he's helping with a campaign to mobilize residents to register for the Nov. 5 flag referendum.

On Wednesday, after Tropical Storm Isidore prompted Harrison County officials to remove the Rebel flag from the display, Whitfield called off his 77-day-long protest. Whitfield had vowed not to leave the beach until the Rebel flag was removed from the public display. Now he says he's uncertain if he'll go back.

"I'm just praying and going day by day," he said.

But Whitfield's larger cause, the permanent removal of a flag he described as a "slap in the face," still remains.

Whitfield said he'll go door to door to register people for the flag referendum, which will ask voters whether they are in favor of or opposed to the Rebel flag's presence at the display.

"If people don't register, they can't vote," Whitfield said as he canvassed the streets of the W.B. Ladner Homes in Gulfport. "And there's a lot of people that still aren't registered."

Within an hour, Whitfield signed up more than a dozen people, many of whom recognized the 21-year-old former Alcorn State University student from his beach protest.