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JUNE-SEPT 2007
OCT-DEC 2007

December 31, 2007 / David Domke and Kevin Coe
Breaking the Golden Rule of Politics Time
For weeks now, GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has been running a campaign that looks a great deal like a religious revival. Early references comparing himself to the Biblical underdog David were followed by campaign commercials in which the words "Christian Leader" flashed upon the screen. When his Christmas-themed commercial stirred up controversy, Huckabee used the opportunity to paint himself as the target of secularists. The approach has played well among conservative evangelicals, who are a crucial bloc in the Republican coalition. But it may be his undoing later. more

OUP Blog December 26, 2007 / David Domke and Kevin Coe
The Christmas Story, Circa 2008: Presidential Religious Politics
Mike Huckabee feels our pain. In his new campaign ad, Huckabee assures us that he too is tired of all the no-holds-barred politicking. He’d rather relax, don his red sweater, carefully position himself in front of a bookshelf that bears an uncanny resemblance to a glowing white cross, and focus on the real meaning of the holiday season: “the celebration of the birth of Christ.” No politics here, just old time religion. more

OUP Blog December 17, 2007 / David Domke and Kevin Coe
Liberty is a Gift from God?: Reflecting on Romney
Mitt Romney’s much-discussed speech about “Faith in America” made one thing crystal clear: he believes liberty is a gift from God. Romney said that “Americans acknowledge that liberty is a gift of God” and assured his audience that, as president, he “will not separate us from ‘the God who gave us liberty.’” He also referenced the Declaration of Independence’s claim that people are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them liberty, and concluded by giving “thanks to the divine ‘Author of liberty.’” more

History News Network December 17, 2007 / Kevin Coe and David Domke
Think Religion Plays a Bigger Role in Politics Today?
You're Right. Statistics Prove It.
The 2008 presidential campaign is striking in that it seems to be nearly as much about religion as politics. Mitt Romney’s much-discussed speech on faith and politics is just one recent example of a trend that has stretched throughout the campaign and across both sides of the partisan aisle. During the seemingly endless string of debates, candidates have pondered what Jesus would do about capital punishment, raised their hands to deny evolution, considered whether America is a Christian nation, described the power of prayer, and eagerly affirmed that yes, the Bible is indeed the word of God. more

On Faith December 14, 2007 / David Domke and Kevin Coe
God, Politics and the Reagan Shift
Of late, public commentators on matters of faith and politics have been eager to say that there is nothing new under the sun. Sure, President Bush often talks about God and faith, they observe, but so too have previous presidents. Nothing to see here. The problem with this perspective is that it is based largely on anecdotes, speculation and, perhaps, wishful thinking. We thought this important debate would benefit from some hard facts, so we did what academics love to do: we ran the numbers. more

StreetProphets December 11, 2007 / David Domke
The God Strategy: Christ moments
Last week my new book, The God Strategy: How Religion Became A Political Weapon in America, was published by Oxford University Press. At the same time (you might have noticed), Mitt Romney delivered his "Faith in America" speech. The timing of Romney’s speech plus some opeds my coauthor, Kevin Coe, and I placed at USA Today and a few other places, and a subsequent CNN moment, launched the book well. more

OUP Blog December 7, 2007 / David Domke and Kevin Coe
On This Day in History: Pearl Harbor
Sixty-six years ago today America was attacked at Pearl Harbor. In responding, President Franklin Roosevelt did the expected: he addressed the nation to explain what had happened, to describe plans for retaliation and, of course, to comfort the American people. But Roosevelt did one thing that, by today’s standards, was entirely unexpected: he didn’t say much about God. more

OUP Blog December 5, 2007 / David Domke and Kevin Coe
He's Not Jack Kennedy
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will address the nation Thursday night about his Mormon faith and how it relates to his candidacy and policy goals. Many are calling it his “JFK moment” because the context recalls John F. Kennedy’s storied 1960 address to a group of conservative Protestant clergy in Houston. more

USA Today December 3, 2007 / David Domke
Religion as a political weapon
On a July evening in 1980 at the Republican Party presidential convention, Ronald Reagan sent a religious signal that still reverberates throughout American politics. Before raucous delegates and a national television audience, Reagan was approaching the end of his acceptance speech when he departed from his prepared remarks: "I have thought of something that's not a part of my speech and worried over whether I should do it." He paused, then continued:

"Can we doubt that only a Divine Providence placed this land, this island of freedom, here as a refuge for all those people in the world who yearn to breathe free? Jews and Christians enduring persecution behind the Iron Curtain; the boat people of Southeast Asia, of Cuba and of Haiti; the victims of drought and famine in Africa; the freedom fighters in Afghanistan; and our own countrymen held in savage captivity."

more

USA Today December 3, 2007 / David Domke
How are the main contenders handling the faith issue
How are the main contenders handling the faith issue? Religious politics are nearly impossible to miss in the 2008 presidential campaign. A look at religion and the top contenders in each party. more

StreetProphets December 1, 2007 / David Domke
The Clinton Unraveling
Hillary Clinton just made another mistake, and this one smacks of a bit of desperation. She went to the AIDS Summit at Rick Warren's church this past Thursday. (Let me make clear here that of course the event and issue are important and noble; what follows is not about those matters but the calculus by a candidate of going.) Every presidential candidate was invited; she was the only one who went. The others made the right move. Here's why: A political candidate who makes an overt play for religious voters in the final weeks before an election always comes off as calculating and disingenous. Take it from someone who knows how the game works. more

StreetProphets November 28, 2007 / David Domke
The Clinton Crisis
Hillary Clinton's campaign has hit its most difficult moment. Faith is at the center of the problem, and it's also at the center of the solution. Or at least the campaign hopes the latter is true. In recent weeks other Democratic candidates have found the bulls-eye in their criticisms of Clinton: specifically, that the famous Clintonian triangulation strategies of careful word parsing, not taking specific positions on an issue, and as the best candidate to handle (and beat) Republican attacks is indicative of politics as usual. Not until Obama and Edwards began to beat the drum of Clinton = traditional Washington politics did Clinton begin taking on water. A Pew poll on religion provides compelling insight into how vulnerable Clinton is. more

StreetProphets November 8, 2007 / David Domke
Huckabee in Iowa
Mike Huckabee is an ordained Southern Baptist minister, is died-in-the-wool anti-abortion and anti-same-sex anything, and regularly claims that the U.S. is in a death struggle with Islamic extremists. All of these hit the sweet spots of religious conservatives. And yet Huckabee can't get any love from Religious Right pooh-bahs, who keep endorsing other candidates... Which is why I think he's going to win in Iowa. more

StreetProphets October 27, 2007 / David Domke
Sunday soul-searching
Among MSM, few have written more about conservative evangelicals and the Republican Party in recent years than David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times. He's got a lengthy piece in the paper's Sunday Magazine, headlined "The Evangelical Crackup." It's not quite what the title suggests, but it's full of compelling on-the-ground insights of the shifting dynamics among evangelicals. Kirkpatrick writes much of it in a first-person narrative, a highly unusual move for a Times reporter. Maybe I'm just tired, maybe I'm looking for some hope, maybe I'm projecting, but there seemed to be some genuine soul-searching documented in this piece. more

StreetProphets October 6, 2007 / David Domke
News from Lake Woe-be-GOP
With apologies to Garrison Keillor for the title of this post ... The week from hell for the love affair between the Republican Party and conservative evangelicals started with a Newsweek cover story on Mitt Romney's Mormon faith. And it just ended with this headline this morning about I'm-going, I'm-staying Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig, from the Spokane Spokesman-Review: "Craig will join state hall of fame." more