Obama doesn't even need to get any more conservative evangelical votes. If some of them are simply not excited enough about McCain to get out and vote - or enthusiastically support get-out-the-vote efforts - that could substantially help the Democrats.

....the children of Evangelicals are not necessarily in political lockstep with their parents. In fact, they aren't even necessarily in religious lockstep.

If Obama can maintain a respectful stance toward those that oppose abortion he is going to do quite well with this group.

candidates will ignore them in the future. Hopefully. Sitting on the sidelines will only hasten their self-destruction. Again, hopefully.

The evangelicals have had to much influence on public policy and legislation in the past 8 years. Jamnes Dobson of Focus on the Family is just worreid about all the money they have been getting from the Federal govnment drying up. Their cause are more about marketing their religious products than religion. The republican party would be much better off wihtout themr influence.

Separation of Church and State needs to be taken more seriously.

If Falwell's successor, or Parsley, or Dobson, or Hagee, or - - well, any of the hundreds of shysters who are ripping off their zombie "congregations" by pretending to be responsible for saving a place for each and everyone of them in heaven (provided each and every one of them sends in enough cash) - - - the blessed masters will make the decision, and only them, and only when the Gracious Lord tells them to spread the glorious news. Their Zombies will follow suit and, of course, do as their told.

It's been that way from the beginning, exactly 1243 years ago when God created humans on the top steps of the court house in downtown Hackensack, New Jersey - - 'cause the Bible says so. And that's the way it is.

If McCain cannot get the evangelicals, which I doubt he will, he needs to reach out to more independents. Selecting Lieberman as his running mate will accomplish this.

McCain-Lieberman '08!!!!!1!

A real winning ticket !!!!!1!

Baloney.

The Evangelicals will, just like George Will, declare from now until October that "This election year is different! We are staying home this time!"

Not a chance.

In October they will "see the light" and in November they will obediently march to the polls and vote 100% Republican. Just like every election year.

Now and forever.

Talk of other outcomes is either "wake up calls" to Republicans to remember to obey the party line in their policies and/or Liberals living in the land of delusion.

Here's part of the Simi Valley Republican Presidential Debate on Jan. 30, 2008: Huckabee

There's something a lot of people don't think about. When you're a governor, you actually manage a microcosm of the federal government. Every agency that you have at the federal level, you have at the state level. You are familiar with the whole game board. You understand what those agencies do, because you interrelate with them as a governor every single day.

But you know what the biggest frustration is? Washington doesn't understand how states operate, but states understand how Washington operates, and that's the fundamental difference. We understand, because unfunded mandates come stomping down on top of us, wrecking our state budgets, creating a complete imbalance of power, ignoring the 10th Amendment.

And that's one reason that a lot of us are ready to say it's time for a new type of leadership that respects the 10th Amendment, that respects the fact that governors are out there fighting to try to build a decent education system, create jobs, make sure that we can give families a chance to have a decent way of living. And that we get governments off the backs of mothers and fathers who ought to be raising kids without a whole lot of government interference.

Those are the reasons that I think when a governor gets to the White House, he does understand that leadership is about looking at all of those issues and realizing that there is no such thing as an isolated issue. Education, health care, economic development -- they're all tied together, Anderson. And this is something that I don't hear coming often from people, who, with all due respect, in the legislative branch, have the luxury of picking out particular issues that they can specialize in.

Governors don't get to specialize. They have to be able to handle on any given day several dozen different issues and see how they integrate together for a strong economy, a strong sense of security. And that's how it works.

MR. HUCKABEE: That's exactly -- real leadership recognizes what your decisions do to people at the bottom. That's what I mean by it, Anderson.

You can't have a president who sees a whole bunch of America as invisible. If you make a decision at the top and you don't understand how it affects the person all the way at the bottom, then you're not ready to lead. Leadership is about seeing the whole field.

MR. HUCKABEE: And that's what I'm talking about. And that's why -- listen, our Republican Party is going to be in trouble if we creating policies and acting like we don't understand what those folks are feeling out there waiting the tables, handling bags, driving the trucks, and moving the freight around.

Huckabee as VP is the only way to bring the flock back in.

The event was an effort to woo Christian conservative voters, something McCain badly needs to do

... and something he is doing badly.

:)

Senator McCain has never had an easy relationship with the fundamentalists. I am just speculating here, but perhaps this is bacause after his return from Vietnam to a wife who had become crippled from a car wreck, McCain acted as a horndog of Clintonian magnitude. He dumped his first wife in order to marry a Barbie doll beer heiress who now serves as chairwoman of an Anhueser-Bush distributorship.

According to the words attributed to Jesus in Mark 10:12 and Luke 16:18, the current McCain marriage is itself a state of adultery. I suspect that religious leaders are not keen on the idea of McCain is not known for personal piety, and the campaign finance reform he has championed is widely despised among issue advocacy groups, including the anti-abortion nutjob groups.