White-wash

Say what you will about the Catholics (and I do), they take the concept of 'A Culture of Life' seriously. The moral struggle to honor the sanctity of all life is a real one for them. Increasingly Catholics are coming to see that Abortion Rights issue is not the only 'Life' issue. More and more are wieghing the 'murder' of pre-humans with the deaths of post-birth-humans from war, disease, poverty etc. There is no one candidate guaranteeing anywhere near a full effort to achieve the Church's ideal.

In the south, though, Jesus is still just a symbol for Authoritarianism and cultural self-justification.

Obama is outperforming any Democrat back to Jimmy Carter among white voters, getting 45 percent to McCain's 52 percent. But in the South, it is a very different story. Obama fares worse among Southern whites than any Democrat since George McGovern in 1972.

Whites in the East and West tilt narrowly toward Obama (he's up 8 and 7 points, respectively), and the two run about evenly among those in the Midwest. By contrast, Southern whites break more than 2 to 1 for McCain, 65 percent to 32 percent.

Southern Christianism: Still the Choice of 1800's values