Faith playing larger role in 2008 race [View All]

AP: Faith playing larger role in 2008 race
By JOAN LOWY
Fri Jun 1

WASHINGTON - 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.

Next week, Clinton, Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards are scheduled to address liberal evangelicals at a forum on "faith, values and poverty."

Some top-tier Republican candidates, the natural heirs to conservative religious support, are finding the issue awkward to handle....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070601/ap_on_el_pr/candidates_religion