Religious Right Figure Gets Chills: Obama Could Win 40 Percent Of Evangelicals

"With clients like Focus on the Family, Franklin Graham, and Campus Crusade for Christ, Mark DeMoss may be the most prominent public relations executive in the evangelical world. A former chief of staff to Jerry Falwell, DeMoss became then-presidential candidate Mitt Romney's chief liaison to evangelical leaders."

In a new interview with Dan Gilgoff for BeliefNet's God-o-Meter, DeMoss explains the lack of religious enthusiasm for McCain and predicts a potential major shift to Obama.

How is John McCain doing among evangelicals, a crucial Republican constituency?

The evangelical world or the conservative religious world is not his natural habitat, so he doesn't strike me as being all that comfortable with it. I think that's evidenced by the strong comments made in 2000 about Falwell and Robertson. ...

You represent some of the nation's most powerful evangelicals. What do those leaders say about McCain?

This is one guy's perspective, but I am surprised by how little I've seen or read in conservative circles about McCain since February. I don't think I've gotten one email or letter or phone call from anybody in America in the last four months saying anything about this election or urging that we unite behind John McCain and put aside whatever differences we have. Back in the fall and winter, you'd get several things a day from conservatives saying, "The future of the Supreme Court is at stake. We have to stop Hillary Clinton. Get behind so and so--or don't' go with this guy." It's just very quiet. It could meant there's a real sense of apathy or it could mean they're' waiting for the general election to begin. But it's a surprise, given the way email networks work now.

Barack Obama is trying hard to win evangelical voters. Does that effort stand a chance?

If one third of white evangelicals voted for Bill Clinton the second time, at the height of Monica Lewinsky mess--that's a statistic I didn't believe at first but I double and triple checked it--I would not be surprised if that many or more voted for Barack Obama in this election. You're seeing some movement among evangelicals as the term [evangelical] has become more pejorative. There's a reaction among some evangelicals to swing out to the left in an effort to prove that evangelicals are really not that right wing. There's some concern that maybe Republicans haven't done that well. And there's this fascination with Barack Obama. So I will not be surprised if he gets one third of the evangelical vote. I wouldn't be surprised if it was 40-percent.

Read the full interview here.

Comments

[Shelly1970]

McCain once had a prepared statement about faith ("When I look at the grand canyon..."­) and it was clear by way of his delivery that it was just a line to throw out in the event he got asked a question relating to his belief in God. Whether scripted or not, you get the sense that Obama's faith-related comments are far more thoughtful and come from within. McCain's remarks about faith are trite and suspiciously smell of slogans generated by consultants. Even when McCain speaks in general, you can see this poor guy struggling with his audience to come across as though he were driven by passion. To me, it sounds like he's trying to push out a big turd. Maybe he is. I'd feel sorry for the poor aide who has to change his diaper every time he finished delivering a speech (and the big ol' mess that comes along with it).

[scire]

yes, from his awkwardness toward religon, my guess is that at heart, McCain just isn't spiritual, that he's a secularist. Nothing wrong with that, so am I, but he should be honest about it.

[danimalia]

Oh boy, that would be political suicide, especially for a republican!

[zoozey]

I think that McCain was raised, and was, prior to his courting of the RR--Episcopalian. That would explain his discomfort in trying to appear evangelical. Episcopalians are much more reticent about emoting and are into the ritual instead. I was raised an Episc. They tend to be almost embarassed by shows of emotion in church. I think the Bushies are also Episc. Dubbya is the one who "found Jesus" and got evangelical about it.

[rowzeer]

You can be secularist and still want to work for the good of human kind. Doctors without Borders isn't a religious organization but they do so much good around the world. But any words about bettering human kind just sound insincere coming from McCain.

[MsLiz]

If the Grand Canyon is evidence of the existence of a supreme being, what is the Hanoi Hilton evidence of?

[SaltySaltillo]

This is all the more reason why McCain will be tempted to pick someone like Jindal for his VP(it is no coincidence that Jindal visited McCain in AZ two weeks ago and then McCain gave his big green "I am your leader" speach on Jindal's territory in LA)... Jindal has everything McCain lacks: young, smart, and strongly in touch with the religious right.

[Krikkit]

No, there is no such thing anymore as the "Religious Right." Two years ago I attended a Political Science Academy dinner in which the key speaker was a man from Virginia Tech who had spent his career studying the political interactions and goals of this diverse group of people.

Bush had promised them the sun and moon, or to promote and bring about their pet social legislation like banning gay marriage and overturning Roe v. Wade among others. Then he didn't deliver. So the Right had a hard time convincing them to hold with the GOP in 2004, saying that these things take time. But by 2006 it was clear that Bush and the GOP had no intention of actively pursuing any of those things.

Their leaders decided to tell their separate constituencies that they should each "vote their consciences" in any further elections. This is one of the principle reasons why we saw the turnaround that we did in the House and Senate in the 2006 mid term elections. That same dynamic will play out in the 2008 general. The GOP has been playing a fools game claiming they "own" the so-called "Religious Right" for the past 2 years. They got nothing.

[riverhouse]

But he's "too foreign" for the typical GOP voter.

[unfettered]

Who are these people voting for OBAMA?
No one I know voted for him?
Why would anyone vote for a Harvard graduate that say's 'um' almost as much as George Bush does and thinks 'Change ' is all u need to say when you forget 'um'.

[Gericault]

You should just go back to watching your T.V....the adults are talking.

[Krikkit]

Obviously you haven't bothered to visit the campaign website to view Barack Obama's DETAILED policy positions and goals. Um, get thee some education or shut up, 'cause your slip is showing.

[Eoin45]

"Who are these people voting for OBAMA?" I'm one of them - older, well educated and politically involved. If no one you know voted for him that proves nothing. I doubt anyone you know voted at all if their grammatical skills are as bad as yours. "No one I know voted for him?" The previous sentence, which you wrote, is not a question, hence no question mark is needed. And "u" is not a word. You are certainly unfettered by English skills.

[disgusted48]

When Obama says umm, he's actually thinking about his response, when bush says umm he's trying to remember his talking points. Intelligent people know the difference.

[christieZ]

Riiiiiiggghhht. Obama saying "um" makes his speech just as poor as Bush's. And he's not just a Harvard graduate, he was the President of the Harvard Law Review. If the members of the prestigious Harvard Law Review didn't mind Obama's "ums" I think it's safe to say we shouldn't either.

[realistxxx]

I find this hard to believe.

[teapartydude]

Evengelical, creationists are not real Christians, but whackjobs.

They're only God is MONEY!

[booksnmore4you]

Please stop with this ignorance.

Sincerely,

Evangelical creationist for Obama

[ginnypoo]

An evangelical creationist for a black seperation theologist? huh So?

[Krikkit]

Really, and just what, pray tell, is a "real" Christian? Go ahead, "educate" us, 'cause I'm sure you're real entertaining when you get wound on your favorite subject.

[christieZ]

Yeah, and you spelled "their" wrong. "They're" means "they are." "Their" is possessive.

[rowzeer]

Greed is their religion..­.money their God

[Aristotle79]

Have you ever seen Obama speak about his faith? It is when he is at his most authentic. McCain looks like he is lying everytime he mentions God. Obama can really score big with this sgment of voters. He should send some people into some of those mega size non demoninational churchs too.. they would be a very large and perceptive audience to a message about poverty and against war.

[KBAR]

Have you ever seen Obama speak about his faith?

The civil rights organization Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) maintains a list of "hate groups" that it characterizes as "black separatist," which it describes as "typically opposing integration and racial intermarriage, and ... wanting separate institutions -- or even a separate nation -- for blacks." The SPLC adds, "Most forms of black separatism (or black nationalism) are strongly anti-white and anti-Semitic, and a number of religious versions assert that blacks -- not Jews -- are the Biblical 'chosen people' of God."

[eXcommunicate]

And do you realize Obama's faith is not under a "black separatist" umbrella?

[Eoin45]

In the words of Dick Cheney, so?

[scire]

and your point? Are you saying that Obama is a black separatist?

There is nothing I despise more than wilful ignorance.

[disgusted48]

What does that have to do with the multi racial Sen. Obama?

[christieZ]

Absolutely ridiculous. If you are insinuating that Obama is a Black Separatists, then you haven't read his book, which is a very sharp critique of Black Nationalism and the Black Separatist Movement. And where exactly are these quotes of yours from? Wikipedia?

[joeyp404]

Is that before or after he defended his church, or scratch that left his church?

[oafishcad]

Republicans wouldn't know Jesus if he was turning over their tables in the temple.

[CallMeDeaconBlues]

"I see, said the blind man."

[Kenji]

But he would definitely be on the no-fly list.

[flydoghead]

that's good !!

[KBAR]

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:VWPyTThPoqkJ:www.raptureready.com/republican.html+jesus+on+national+defence&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=12&gl=us

[Eoin45]

Come the rapture can I have your car?

[disgusted48]

They would have been the one's screaming to crucify him, only to have second thoughts later.

[AxelDC]

Put Romney on the ticket and all those anti-Mormon fundamentalists will never vote for McCain!

[MsLiz]

Romney picked a bad year to want to be VP, with the polygamist sect FDLS been in the news so often. I realize that the sect is an offshoot of the Mormon Church, but I believe the civil authorities in Utah are dominated by Mormons who allowed these cults to flourish in their midst.

[unscum]

It makes sense, in addition to preaching salvation, Jesus Christ spent the last years of his life, feeding the hungry, fighting for the poor and challenging or you could say, changing, the establishment.

[MissKaren]

Jesus did not push a conservative Repubilcan program nor did he preach like an evangelical right winger. He also did not have much patience with tub tumping loudmouths like Pat Robertson and his spawn, Gordon.

McCain's embrace of Hagee may be embarrassing to the evangelicals.

[KBAR]

No, He told the CHURCH to support the poor, not the government.

[scire]

No, he did not tell the Church to support the poor. Christianity did not exist as a formal religion until about 100 years after his death. When he was alive, there was neither an institutional Church nor churches as places of worship. And government was markedly different. And there was no such thing as capitalism. Capitalism did not exist until the Industrial Revolution.

Christ was not an American, and he was not a Republican. And he was not a politician, so I doubt he would he would have cared whether that assistance came from the government or the Church, as long as it was there.


You are inserting your American-bred right-leaning ideals and culture onto somebody who lived in an entirely different cultural context. It is anachronistic to superimpose what you wish he was onto what he actually was.

[PennyLeonard]

It is logical, Jesus came to help the poor, the disenfranchized and President Obama turned many people on the South Side of Chicago to African American Churches for help for 20 years.
Faith based pentacolstal churches have always been there for support for the poor.
And no matter how we cut the Cake, the Black Churches have had to do MORE for the needy than the white Churches because the Minorities have more poverty than whites...m­ore ex-offenders, more aids victims, and the Black Churches have used their kitchens on a daily basis to feed the poor because they have been LOCATED in those neighborhoods to support the needs of the people....­..like Jesus, He came to the poor of heart to help. Barack was out there for 20 years referring people to those faith based churches for supporting those in need. He could have taken a high priced job on wall street and he did not....he worked for the disinfranchized for 20 years...he was in touch.

[dezzertguy]

And he never took one penny from the government.

[bodi1313]

Are you out of your minds? This is the latest propaganda B.S. from the Obama camp.
I see people blogging on CNN signing in as 'evangelicals for Obama". They are paid bloggers working for the Obama campaign.
You think Evangelicals who abhor abortion are goin to vote for Obama?
Get real.

[KBAR]

There is one thing certain I can state, based upon the integrity of Bible truth. Jesus would never endorse or be a member of any party whose platform supports abortion, gay rights, and a general hostility to Bible-believing Christians.

[riverhouse]

How do you know? Are you in communication with Him? Did he authorize you to speak for Him?

[Pyrrhus]

Hey, where's your scripture reference for this?

And I want it in the original Hebrew or Aramaic. Greek will do in a pinch.

Only sissies read the Bible in its translated languages.

Qala d Alaha

[dartagnan]

If Jesus thought homosexuality was such a horrible sin, how come he never said anything about it?

[disgusted48]

Do you think Jesus would endorse a member of any party whose platform supports war, killing, more war, war for oil, war for Haliburton, more killing and more war? War is devilment in its purest form. That's the republican platform, period. I guess you are comfortable with that.

[LexLuthier]

Jesus said that his golden rule was to treat others as you would wish to be treated. There was also something about what ever you do to least among you, you also do unto me. Oh, and he also said as you sow, so shall you reap. Should I go on?

[uclafan]

there are christians on both sides of the aisle, and God sees no side as better than the other

[oafishcad]

If Obama may get 40% of the Evangelical vote, does that mean McCain may get 60%?

[macaframa]

just goes to show the priorities of the "Christians" in our country

[oafishcad]

The majority of Democrats are Christian. The majority of Evangelical Christians are Republicans.

[macaframa]

and the majority of religious people are ignorant!!!

[MsLiz]

Au contraire. There are many varieties of religion, not just the ones which believe in magic and hell. Perhaps it is you who are ignorant.

[going2ireland]

Boy, you really know how to offend the mass majority of US citizens, don't you??

[Ihaveadream]

As others here have said, Barack Obama is the genuine article and not a phony like George Bush who claims God talks to him. I'm sure after 8 years any objective person has seen through his hypocrisy.

If you read Jesus' words in the New Testament, he's very clear that it's not the big show of going to church and praying in public that makes you worthy of salvation.

[Mitchell4A]

Ah, the religious right is not all that the Republicans and the McCain people have to worry about. There are deeper forces at work here, and they are more powerful than Evangelical Right.

"Obama, Spock, and the New Star Trek Nation"
http://msa4.wordpress.com/