Democrats Keep The Faith
Presidential Hopefuls Show More Zeal In Courting Religious Voters Than Their GOP Rivals
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Sen. Barack Obama , D-Ill., speaks to the St. Mark Cathedral congregation on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during a birthday celebration at the Harvey, Ill., church, Jan. 15, 2007. (AP)
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Pastor Rick Warren, author of "The Purpose Driven Life," speaks during a taping of "Meet the Press" at the NBC studios December 15, 2006 in Washington, DC. (GETTY)
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Play CBS Video Video Religion And Politics Bob Schieffer says that in the upcoming presidential election voters should not base their decisions on the candidate's religion, but on their political beliefs.
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Video Romney On Being Mormon Mitt Romney talks with Bob Schieffer about his Mormon faith and the role it plays in his presidential campaign. Romney also addresses why Evangelical Christians may have a problem with his religion.
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Video The Candidates And Religion Dan Gilgoff, Contributing Editor of U.S. News & World Report and author of "The Jesus Machine," takes a look at the 2008 Presidential candidates and discusses whether or not their religious beliefs could hurt them on election day.
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Interactive Campaign 2008 Profiles of the candidates, polls, fund-raising, blogs, video and more.
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In-Depth 2008 Presidential Hopefuls Profiles and the latest news on the Democrats and Republicans running for the White House.
In the 2004 election, according to exit polls, 78 percent of white evangelicals voted for George W. Bush. The president's deft use of religious language, socially conservative policy positions and unprecedented outreach program had galvanized highly religious voters, and there was serious talk of a permanent Republican majority built on their support.
The Democratic Party, meanwhile, had been represented by John Kerry, whose campaign was dogged by the perception that it did not take faith outreach seriously and who struggled to convince voters that his religious rhetoric was genuine.
Four years later, the script hasn't exactly flipped. But the shift when it comes to religious rhetoric has been remarkable. In the 2008 election cycle, it is the Democrats, not the Republicans, who seem most comfortable discussing their faith - and reaching out to the faithful.
Consider the frontrunners for the Democratic nomination. Sen. Barack Obama has touted his "personal relationship with Jesus Christ," and said he is “confident that we can create a kingdom right here on Earth." He has organized "faith forums," says he seeks to be an "instrument of God," and speaks of his religious conversion following community organizing in Chicago-area churches.
Along with conservative Sen. Sam Brownback, he spoke about fighting AIDS at evangelical pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in California. And an Obama "gospel tour" in South Carolina, though not without controversy, drew thousands of black evangelicals over the weekend.
Sen. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, has been less outspoken than Obama about her Methodist faith - which is perhaps why, among the frontrunners, she is seen as the least religious, according to a recent Pew survey. But behind the scenes, Clinton, who is thought to be deeply religious by those who know her, has been engaged in an impressive outreach program to win over religious voters.
Last year, Clinton hired Burns Strider, a highly-regarded white evangelical born and raised in Mississippi, to be her faith outreach director. She and Strider, who headed up the Democrats' outreach program following the 2004 election, are casting Clinton's faith as integral to her life and her policy positions on issues like genocide in Darfur. It's a strategy made more viable by the rise of pastors like Warren and Bill Hybels, who talk more about issues like poverty than the battles of the culture war.
Clinton has also done significant outreach among Iowa's relatively large Methodist community, according to Dan Gilgoff, politics editor at Beliefnet.com. "She doesn't talk about it as blatantly, but her campaign reveals a very robust and sophisticated effort," says Gilgoff.
John Edwards, a Southern Baptist-turned-United Methodist, had a high-profile stumble with religious voters when two of his bloggers were discovered to have made comments before they joined his campaign that Catholics found offensive. But his populist message dovetails nicely with the new evangelicalism of Warren and Hybels - Edwards casts fighting poverty as a moral issue - and he has spoken eloquently of finding his faith following the death of his son in 1996. He has also been reaching out to progressive religious leaders.
The Republican frontrunners, meanwhile, have struggled to win over deeply religious voters looking for a candidate to rally around. Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, has socially moderate positions on issues such as gay rights and abortion that are anathema to traditional evangelicals, as well as a personal history that doesn't play well with the group. A Roman Catholic, Giuliani says his personal religious beliefs are private and generally declines to discuss them, though he often invokes God on the campaign trail.
In March, Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention criticized Giuliani for how he handled his divorce from his second wife. "I mean, this is divorce on steroids," Land told the Associated Press. "To publicly humiliate your wife in that way, and your children. That's rough. I think that's going to be an awfully hard sell, even if he weren't pro-choice and pro-gun control."
Late last month, a group of prominent Christian conservatives threatened to back a third-party candidate if Giuliani becomes the Republican nominee.
Giuliani's rival Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, has spotlighted his family and traditional values over the course of his campaign, presumably to draw a contrast with Giuliani. But the nature of his faith - Romney is Mormon - appears to be a significant problem for many religious voters. A September Pew poll found that just 46 percent of white evangelical Protestants have a favorable opinion of Mormons, while 39 percent have an unfavorable opinion. A Rasmussen Reports poll last year found that more than half of evangelical Christians wouldn't cast their vote for a Mormon.
Romney has made some inroads. This month he secured the endorsements of Bob Jones III and Robert Taylor of South Carolina's Bob Jones University, a conservative Christian college that teaches that Mormonism is a cult. He also won a recent straw poll among socially conservative "Values Voters" in Washington. But Romney, who until relatively recently supported abortion rights, remains a hard sell for many evangelicals.
By Brian Montopoli
©MMVII, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."





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See all 316 Comments"The government will make use of these powers only insofar as they are essential for carrying out vitally necessary measures...The number of cases in which an internal necessity exists for having recourse to such a Law is in itself a limited one."
- Adolf Hitler
Does that ring any bells? It should, folks. It''s nearly the same words George Bush used to support of the John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007, one of the many Orwellian Laws which Senators Clinton, Obama and McCain all supported.
"Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal."
-- Martin Luther King Jr.
"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home."
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"We have nothing to fear but fear itself, and those who would exploit our fear for power and their own personal, selfish, cynical gain."
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
"The government will make use of these powers only insofar as they are essential for carrying out vitally necessary measures...The number of cases in which an internal necessity exists for having recourse to such a Law is in itself a limited one."
- Adolf Hitler
Does that ring any bells? It should, folks. It''s nearly the same words George Bush said in support of the John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007. A Law which Senator Clinton and Senator Obama both supported.
"Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal."
-- Martin Luther King Jr.
- Declaration of Independence
"I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
- Patrick Henry
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There is simply no other politician like Ron Paul. He understands the ills of our nation and how to cure them. The Doctor is in!
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