Understanding Barack Obama's Faith | Newsweek Politics: Campaign 2008

Carolina Combat
Howard Fineman 4/26/2007 12:00:00 AM
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7/26/2004 12:00:00 AM
CAMPAIGN 2008
Heaven Help Them Decide
Arian Campo-Flores
Going back to Ronald Reagan, the Rev. Wilfredo De Jesús—the senior pastor of a 4,500-member Hispanic evangelical church in Chicago—has pulled the lever for Republicans in presidential elections. "I always voted on the issue of abortion and the sanctity of marriage," he says. This time, though, Sen. Barack Obama's message of faith and social justice, combined with strident GOP rhetoric on illegal immigration, has persuaded him to endorse the Democrat. That switch illustrates the extent to which the Latino evangelical vote is in play—a development that could prove decisive on Nov. 4. Though polls show Obama beating Sen. John McCain among Hispanics as a whole by roughly 30 points, Hispanic evangelicals are a tougher sell. In 2004, 63 percent of them voted for President Bush.
POLITICS | TRUE OR FALSE
Evangelicals Are Crucial to Winning the 2008 Election
Lisa Miller
The leaders of the religious right don't have great affection for John McCain. They think he's too moderate on immigration, embryonic-stem-cell research and campaign-finance reform, and they think he doesn't do enough to promote his pro-life positions.
The Miracle Workers
Eve Conant
Richard Land had never met one-on-one with a chairman of the Democratic National Committee. The Tennessee evangelist, an influential force in the Southern Baptist Convention, generally views such people as adversaries, if not enemies. So consider his surprise when, at a nonpartisan leadership conference over the New Year's holiday, Howard Dean leaned in and said he'd love to get together for a private chat. Land agreed to meet for coffee at a downtown Washington hotel.
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