Here's something that might help you think about something else--Amy Sullivan's welcome new book The Party Faithful.

I found it a fascinating look deep inside a world which the mainstream media for the most part seems afraid to touch or simply does not seem to understand well, the world where organized religion and politics intersect.

It is no secret that Democratic party presidential candidates have been hurt by shaky support among Catholic voters and abysmal support among white evangelical Christian voters for most of the period from 1972 on.

Catholics, once a solidly Democratic constituency, have preferred the Democratic presidential candidate only in 1996 and 2000 in the seven elections since 1980. And not since Jimmy Carter carried 58% of the white evangelical vote has that group favored Democrats, with no other Democratic nominee since then garnering more than 33% support among this very large demographic.

Sullivan, an evangelical Baptist and a liberal Democrat, maintains it did not and does not need to be so. National editor for Time and formerly editor of the Washington Monthly and a Capitol Hill staffer, she explains how Democrats have missed opportunities to do far better with both groups without compromising our principles--and of how the party is lately showing signs of rapid progress in working its way up that learning curve. 

(When I refer to not compromising "our" principles, I should simply state that I would like to see the Democratic party not exclude or try to silence prolife/anti-choice politicians who are more aligned with Democrats on many other issues.  And I would like to see the party take steps, as it indeed has without a lot of fanfare, to act on the "rare" part of Bill Clinton's "safe, legal and rare" stance on abortion.  A tough question I would like to hear Sullivan's response to is her view as to whether Democrats should, while trying to implement non-coercive policies which would reduce the number of abortions, seek to make it possible as a practical matter to obtain a legal abortion for those women who want to make that choice in the wide swaths of the country where it is very difficult to find providers willing to perform legal abortions.) 

John Kerry, who lost the white evangelical vote 78-22, did not learn that there were evangelical Democrats until after the election. His campaign's approach: "We don't do white churches", even though 40% of evangelicals are politically moderate. Sullivan describes the recent broadening of priorities beyond abortion and gay marriage within the younger generation of politically active evengelicals to include attention to issues such as Iraq, poverty and AIDS in Africa. Many among this new generation of evangelical activists feel used and taken for granted by the Republican party and have put their support up for grabs based on which party can deliver on this expanded range of concerns.

Sullivan likewise believes that Democrats can, and need to, engage Catholic voters on a much broader range of issues and not assume, incorrectly, that Catholic voters are only concerned with abortion and gay marriage.

She explains that many Catholic voters are influenced by Church teachings in support of the concept of the Common Good and that this outlook may align better with Democratic party approaches on many economic/social justice and foreign policy issues.

But, fearful (not without reason) of being disrupted by anti-abortion rights protesters and a vocal, visible minority of communion-denying far right-wing Catholic officials, many Democratic politicians have declined to engage Catholic audiences.

In this regard, I was moved by the account of Rep. Rosa DeLauro's refusal to disengage from her Church, no matter how much her Church has given the back of its hand to her and other pro-choice Catholic Democratic elected officials. DeLauro has been among the leaders seeking to put in place policies which would reduce the number of abortions without overturning Roe v. Wade.

Sullivan describes some of the strategies that, so far applied on a small scale, have already borne impressive results with both groups.

At 220 pages the book is a brisk read. Sullivan's sources are impressive. She left me feeling like a fly on the wall as she recounted one vivid anecdote after another involving major players ordinary citizens like me have no, or limited, access to.

Marked by a lively reportorial style, a passion for illumination in lieu of condemnation, and sensible positive suggestions for how Democrats and liberals can pick up support among religious voters without losing their souls, The Party Faithful is a winning and hopeful window into that world where politics and religion intersect. As someone who has been trying to educate myself about this subject in recent years, I learned a lot from it.