The evangelical left, still stung by 70-75 percent evangelical support for George W. Bush in 2004, has been insisting that more evangelicals will vote Democrat if steered away from same-sex marriage and abortion and towards Global Warming and poverty. Leading the charge for this redirection has been the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), whose Washington, D.C. representative, Richard Cizik, virtually endorsed Barak Obama on National Public Radio last month.

Cizik told NPR he was “undecided,” but he loudly praised Obama. “I’m a conservative, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to vote that way. I could disagree with Obama, and do, on same-sex marriage and abortion, but that doesn’t mean I’ll, on those issues alone, vote against him. Because I think there are characteristics and integrity issues that are more important. And I would ask my fellow Americans and fellow evangelicals what kind of temperament do you want in the Oval Office?”