It has been assumed that the addition of Palin on the RNC ticket instantaneously solidified the Evangelical base voters? That her pro-life view was enough to answer any and all election questions. Seems that might not be true.
Lost in the stampede of social conservatives to embrace Palin this past week is the fact that she is culturally outside the mainstream of Evangelicalism. Over the past few years, a growing number of Evangelicals have been consciously distancing themselves from the more extreme stands of the Christian right. They live in the suburbs, hold graduate degrees, and while they might not want their children reading certain novels, would be embarrassed by attempts to ban certain books from libraries, as Palin is reported to have briefly considered while mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. They don't attend churches where speakers charge that violence against Israelis is divine punishment for the failure of Jews to accept Jesus, as happened at one of Palin's churches two weeks ago (though Palin has now issued a statement saying she does not agree with those views). And they would disagree with Palin's decision to use her line-item veto as Governor to slash funding for an Alaska shelter that serves teen mothers.
That goes double for younger Evangelicals. These voters tend to be even more pro-life than their parents, but abortion isn't always a priority that moves their votes — it wasn't when McCain was alone on the ticket, and there's no reason for that to change with the addition of Palin. - AMY SULLIVANTIME
Howard Dean and others in the DNC field teams have noted on previous occasions that work on climate change, poverty issues, relief in Darfur, these issues take a spotlight position in Rick Warren's book "A Purpose Driven Life." These key issues are certainly not strong points in the soap box that Palin has been screeching from for her short political career. There may be wedges within this so-called single issue base. Time will tell. And luckily there is not much time for McCain-Palin to make their case to these increasingly skeptical undecided voters.
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