It appears according to Inside Catholic here at The Obama "Faith Tour" hits the road. that Obam is going after the religious voters. Heading up the Catholic part of this -drum roll please- is Prof Doug Kmiec that is becoming more and more free with the facts in his pieces that advocate that Catholics vote for Obama. I suspect Catholic bloggers and other will be busy the next few weeks. No doubt Kmiec will start his presentation with again recounting how he was ONCE denied communion because he supported Obama at a event for Catholic Businessmen. He no doubt will not linger on the part how that was quickly dealt with and in fact many leading Catholic conservatoves leapt to his defense quickly.
Here is the CBN article that Inside Catholic links
Exclusive: Obama Campaign Faith Tour Starts Next Week
An official with Barack Obama’s campaign tells The Brody File that beginning next week the campaign will start an official faith tour in key battleground states called “Barack Obama: Faith, Family and Values Tour”. The subheading of the tour is as follows: “Voting ALL Our Values”
The Brody File is told that top faith surrogates will hit the trail for Obama. Some of those high profile figures include Former Indiana Congressman and pro-life Democrat Tim Roemer, Catholic legal scholar Doug Kmiec, and author Donald Miller. You can also expect a soon to be named Evangelical North Carolina (red state) Congressman to travel the country as well. All of these surrogates are well versed and comfortable talking faith and politics. This is clearly a sign by the Obama campaign that they plan to target red state and swing state moderates.
A campaign official tells me the tour is designed to feature the “strong faith and values” of both Barack Obama and running mate Joe Biden. Issues will range from healthcare to poverty to the economy to climate change to yes, even abortion. The campaign understands tough questions may come their way but they’re ready with an answer of how they can reduce abortions.
While conservative Evangelicals have flocked to Palin, the Obama campaign is targeting voters from so many of the other faith traditions. The Brody File has been told that even with Palin now in the race, the Obama campaign’s internal faith polling shows them to be doing better than expected with other denominations besides conservative Evangelicals.
For example, they have their sites on places like Ohio which is home to roughly 500,000 United Methodists alone.
This tour will last about a month or so and will be in a town hall format where these speakers and others will give their talks in community centers and gyms and then take questions afterwards.
Among the states on the list are Colorado Indiana, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Florida, New Mexico, Virginia and Wisconsin. Remember, the Obama campaign believes the White Catholic vote is very much in play especially in places like Pennsylvania. Plus, while conservative Evangelicals are not going to head Obama’s way, the campaign believes they can win over those moderate and liberal Evangelicals, Catholics and even some conservative mainline Protestants.
Look, getting conservative Evangelicals was always a tough sell for the Obama campaign and it became much tougher after the Palin pick. But the Obama campaign understands that most people in this country consider their faith integral to their lives. The values and religion talk resonates not just with conservative Evangelicals but a whole range of people out there. It means different things to different people. Obama wants to tap into that and also stay true to the fact that his faith has been central to his life.
LOL, James you did it to me again, I was going to post those bumper stickers tonight...
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great work.
Thanks
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