This just in from the Democratic candidates: we go to church too!
Never mind foreign relations, energy policy, economic development, troop withdrawal…when I pick a candidate, I want to know that he or she drops a Jackson in the collection plate every Sunday and admits to having evolved from a monkey.
On the other hand, I guess it doesn’t hurt to have an omniscient being working for your campaign, and yes, I’m referring to James Carville.
Faith playing larger role in 2008 race Lately it seems all the leading presidential candidates are discussing their religious and moral beliefs — even when they'd rather not. Indeed, seven years after George W. Bush won the presidency in part with a direct appeal to conservative religious voters — even saying during a debate that Jesus Christ was his favorite philosopher — the personal faith of candidates has become a very public part of the presidential campaign.
Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) have hired strategists to focus on reaching religious voters. Obama's campaign holds a weekly conference call with key supporters in early primary and caucus states whose role is to spread the candidate's message to religious leaders and opinionmakers and report their concerns to the campaign.
Democrats in general are targeting moderate Roman Catholics, mainline Protestants and even evangelicals, hoping to enlist enough voters for whom religious and moral issues are a priority to put together a winning coalition.
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Now, Democrats are speaking plainly about their beliefs. In March, Edwards told the multi-faith Web site Beliefnet.com that Jesus would be appalled at how the nation has ignored the plight of the suffering.
"I think the majority of Americans, the people who largely decide elections, what they are looking for — particularly in these times — is a really good and decent human being to be president," Edwards said in an interview with The Associated Press. "If you are a person, a man or woman, of faith, that has an impact on how they view you as a human being, whatever your faith is."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070601/ap_on_el_pr/candidates_religion&printer=1;_ylt=AowoWWWDICJAFnUniu42FMNh24cA Well, sure, goodness and decency aren’t bad, per se, but intelligence, competence, and effectiveness would be even cooler. But that’s just my opinion.