Howard Dean and Dems Courting Evangelicals
Newsweek reports Howard Dean is courting Republican evangelicals.
One of those he's met with recently is a Tennessee evangelical named Richard Iband. Can this be true?
"Dean told me how the Democrats were pro-life in that they wanted a country in which abortion was rare. I said, 'I agree, but we disagree how to get there.' Still, it was certainly a change in tone."
Apparently, yes. Dean told Newseek:
"In the past, we've come off as dismissive to evangelicals," Dean tells NEWSWEEK. "But our party has become much more comfortable talking about faith and values.
"Are we going to abandon Roe v. Wade? No. But a lot can be done to prevent teen pregnancy and abortions. There is a lot we do agree on."
If you're not queasy enough yet, keep reading.
The DNC under Dean has stepped up its Faith in Action initiative, an outreach program created in the wake of the Democrats' 2004 defeat. Run by a Pentecostal minister, it has trained about 150 people.
All the major Democratic candidates seem to be playing the evangelical card:
Clinton, Obama and John Edwards all have senior staffers in charge of reaching out to religious groups. "There's a lot of common ground here with evangelicals on the genocide in Darfur, ending human trafficking and making sure that religious liberty is not static around the world," says Burns Strider, director of faith-based operations for the Clinton campaign. (By contrast, talking to evangelicals in 2004 was considered "a waste of resources," says Mara Vanderslice, who was hired by John Kerry only eight months before Election Day to reach out to the faith community.)
Obama's national director of religious affairs, Joshua DuBois, says he has contacted more than 75 evangelical leaders since he joined the campaign on its first day.
There's going to be a quid pro quo for their support.
Tony Perkins, who heads the conservative Family Research Council. "If the Democrats follow through with substantive policy initiatives that reflect their newfound faith, they could make headway. But it's got to be more than just talk."
This is very disheartening. I don't want evangelicals -- or any religious group -- to have a say in anything but their churches -- and certainly not a say in government policy or legislation.
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