I am amazed that so many peole who claim to be Christians are racist. I do believe these are the people who will hear the words "I never knew you" directly from the lord. Paul tells us , in Galations how we to look at race and gender.

"But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor freeman, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:23-29).

In God eyes there is no difference, there is no Jew, no Greek, no White, no Black. There is no gender, no women nor men. We are all the same, all loved as a father loves his son. Those who claim to be Christian and are racist cannot justify their views with the the teachings of Christ. They may be sincere, but they are sincerely deluded.

Most evangelicals I've met are nice, and often their words are honeyed. But the fruits...those are going to take a lot of answering for in the coming years. So, Swing Evangelicals yes, but I would hope Obama does not attempt to appeal to the hard core. In the future, they won't be a moral asset. In the future, no one's going to want to be associated with churches that were so pivotal in electing someone like Bush.

I have to say that Obama is in a very good position to gain support from certain parts of the white evangelicals - yes, on some social issues he is at odds with them - but more importantly, Obama's message embodies and eludes classical Christian values that also resound with heartland Christians...his message of hope, compassion, responsibility, family values, and sense of community will appeal to many in the heartland, even if some of his points are at odds with what has been, up to now, core issues for conservative Christians...I see a change in priorities for them and Obama stands very nearly with how they want to be represented politically - particularly after seeing how the old standard of simply voting Republican has worked out for them.

Every man acts in faith; at least in the faith that the sun will rise again tomorrow, or the faith that his memories of the past actually represent the course of events causing him to be where it is he currently stands.

Merely lauding "faith" is therefore selling an empty bottle. The inevitable question is going to be "faith in what?" Marketing and restraining the condescending sneers may in fact shave off a certain percentage, but, as Prof. Berlinerblau notes, most Evangelicals WERE Democrats, and were alienated from the party by positive action on the part of the party.

In a nutshell, the Democrats decided consciously to forego a share of the traditionalists and a share of feminists and other sexual non-traditionalists for almost all of the non-traditionalists and almost none of the traditionalists.

Demographically this has proven to be a short-sighted plan. Regardless, the fundamental policy positions won't be changed with different marketing approaches, and it is the policy positions to which the traditionalists are responding.

Marketing alone won't change the refrigerator-buying habits of eskimos over the long term, even if the salesmen learn to stop calling the eskimos "Nanook" and stop referring to them in print as "poor, ignorant, and easily led."