Dean Tries Praying for Voters

Amid chatter about Democratic candidates wooing the religious vote, Howard Dean has quietly used his DNC pulpit to build grassroots and national values outreach programs. The Hill reports that Dean—once so spiritually lost as to say “my religion doesn’t inform my public policy”—was born again after partnering with a DNC higher-up who doubles as a Pentecostal minister.

The chairman instigated programs to attract religious voters in six states last year. Alabama’s went to the local press with surveys linking Christianity and the Dem platform, a beacon to southern neighbors that soon followed. The DNC also created a national faith advisory council, made up of sixty “media-trained and knowledgeable clergy, theologians and faith community leaders.” (More religion stories.)