DEMOCRATS SHOULD be wary of jumping to conclusions in the wake of Democrat Timothy Kaine's Virginia gubernatorial victory. Kaine didn't shy away from discussing his religious beliefs during his campaign, and this seems to be leading party strategists to conclude that Democrats can win in culturally conservative states if they talk about deeply held religious beliefs.
But imagining that red-state voters will turn blue if only Democrats talk more about faith misunderstands the role of conservative evangelical Christianity in American politics. Conservative evangelical churches played a big role in delivering voters for George W. Bush in 2004 -- but neither that nor Kaine's victory prove that red-state voters are simply hungry for "religion" and will reward whichever candidate speaks most convincingly about his or her personal faith.
Conservative evangelical churches were able to deliver voters for Bush in much the same way, and for much the same reasons, that labor unions and political machines like New York's Tammany Hall were once able to deliver votes for the Democrats: They offer material benefits to people with nowhere else to turn, and that is easily parlayed into votes at election time.
No, I'm not saying that these churches bribed voters in 2004. But people are inclined to trust the political judgments made by those who help them in times of need, and in this era of slashed government social programs -- replaced in part by grants to "faith-based" providers -- it's conservative evangelical churches that now play that role for many struggling Americans.
Look at the offerings of some of the conservative evangelical "mega-churches." At the Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Ky., for instance, members of the 16,000-plus congregation can find child care, help with job searches, classes on debt management for single mothers, and food and housing assistance.
Sure, the church's "independent" newspaper urges people to vote "yes" on a Kentucky measure to ban same-sex marriages, and the church enthusiastically directs women to a health clinic that describes abortion as an "unnatural, forced termination of your pregnancy" that "sucks out your baby, piece by piece." But why be picky? It's not like a free lunch is easy to come by these days -- much less free child care, job counseling and temporary housing.
