From CNN:

The political spotlight will shine on Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama Obama on Saturday night, when the two candidates will face tough questions focused on personal values, presidential leadership and international affairs.

I’ve been looking forward to this forum for a couple of reasons. First off, I think John McCain only stands to lose more evangelical voters from this. Senator Obama, on the other hand, only stands to gain evangelical voters. Thanks to the popularity of Rick Warren, we can count on quite a few evangelicals actually tuning in to be swayed in either direction. On top of that, this could be our first indication as to the priorities of Evangelical voters in a post-George W Bush era.

John McCain’s standing with evangelicals is no mystery. Back in 2000, the “maverick” McCain denounced the religious right as “agents of intolerance.” Then he got his ass kicked by George W Bush and his army of evangelical red meat voters. Since then he’s been sucking up to the religious right, convinced they’re his ticket to his own spot in the White House. However, evangelicals are not shy about voicing their suspicions. If there’s one thing evangelicals are savvy about, it’s God talk. They understand that when Bush says God told him to invade Iraq, he was just batshit loco enough to believe it himself. Conversely, when McCain rolls into town with his Zionist-by-the-numbers empty suit pastors and starts kissing ass, evangelicals get that its mostly bullshit. Any undecided religious voter tuning in tonight to be enraptured by the convulsing, fiery Born Again Faith of John McCain will be terribly, terribly disappointed.

Senator Obama, on the other hand, has a chance to really blow them away. Since it’s a “forum” and not a real debate, there won’t be any fierce back-and-forth exchanges. Instead, it will be a series of canned and rehearsed speeches. Obama’s skill with this sort of thing is nothing short of spectacular, and I have no doubt it will go over quite well with the faith-based crowd. For many, at least, this will be the final nail in the coffin on the smears of Obama as a secret muslim. Tonight’s forum will provide opportunity after opportunity for Obama to plainly discuss his faith in his own terms directly to evangelical voters. Recent polls show Obama doing surprisingly well with evangelical voters already, and I suspect this forum could produce a bit of a spike.

Beyond the partisan politics aspect, tonight’s forum will also be the start of the debate among evangelicals as to what exactly they’re looking for from their candidates. Will they continue the push on wedge issues such as gay marriage and stem cell research, or will they opt for more pressing, and quite frankly less ignorant and hateful, issues such as poverty reduction and climate change? While I think its a bit early for liberals and progressives to count evangelicals firmly in their corner, there are cracks beginning to appear in the Republican’s iron grip on them as a voting demographic. The issues raised by Rev. Warren could produce a bellwether for the religious debate in campaign 2008.

So what do you think? Can McCain work the forum to his advantage? Could Obama make a gaffe? Are you even planning on watching? Drop me a line and let me know.

Popularity: 77% [?]