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McCain, Grahams have 'excellent conversation' but no endorsement: Private meeting at McCain's request

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain visited evangelists Billy and Franklin Graham for “a very excellent conversation” at the elder preacher’s North Carolina home June 29.

In a statement following the meeting. McCain said, “Billy Graham recalled that during the Vietnam War when I was a prisoner, he visited my parents twice in Honolulu, and he and my father prayed together for me. And I expressed my appreciation for that a long time ago.”

Obama pledges to expand Bush's faith-based works: "A real partnership, not a photo op"

Adopting a federal program criticized strongly by some liberals, Senator Barack Obama says he would expand and improve President Bush’s initiative to fund religious charities and community ministries and make it central to his administration should he reach the White House.

Speaking July 1 at East Side Community Ministry in Zanesville, Ohio, Obama said such groups are well placed to solve the country’s most pressing problems, from poverty to the environment.

Mainline shows shift to Democrats: Most change among centrist mainliners

Although mainline Protestant denominations for decades have been closely linked to liberal causes—civil rights, women’s movements, abortion rights and antiwar protests—most of their members have been mainstays of the Republican Party.

However, a recent survey found that 2008 marks “a historic tipping point” in party identification among mainline Protestants, with 46 percent now calling themselves Democrats and 37 percent saying they are Republicans.

Obama is quick to make contact with evangelical leaders: Off-the-record session in Chicago

Only days after Barack Obama resumed his presidential campaign wearing the label of “presumptive Democratic nominee,” the Illinois senator invited a number of evangelical leaders to a private meeting with him in Chicago. The off-the-record session grew to include mainline Protestants and Roman Catholics.

The discussion June 10 with more than 30 people was the first in a series of closed meetings that Obama aides said he wants with faith leaders in coming months—despite the setbacks and agonizing split the Illinois senator experienced with his former church.

The other Jewish lobby: AIPAC is not the only game in town

Remember Dennis Kucinich (D., Ohio), the Democratic presidential candidate who brought a refreshing note of reality to the early primary debates? You don’t remember him? In the memorable words of John Wayne: “Think back, Pilgrim.” It was Kucinich who reminded primary and caucus audiences that Palestinians live under an oppressive Israeli military occupation.

The politician's pastor: Vetting the minister

It’s been an odd season for pastors and would-be presidents. The latter have been renouncing the former faster than you can say “damage control.” Barack Obama quit his membership at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago after Catholic priest Michael Pfleger delivered a sermon there in which he mocked Hillary Clinton for her alleged racism. Having already endured several rounds of controversy over Trinity’s retired pastor, Jeremiah Wright, Obama decided he was not interested in defending his congregation from any more complaints about extremist statements.

Religion-politics mix proves perilous: Tricky for both pastors and politicians

Mitt Romney and his Mormon faith. Mike Huckabee and his “Christian leader” ads. John McCain and John Hagee. Hillary Clinton and her “prayer warriors.” Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright. The 2008 election has featured an extraordinary emphasis on religion.

“There’s been more religious ferment in this election than any since 1960,” said Ralph Reed, the GOP strategist who helped build the Christian Coalition in the 1990s, “and I don’t expect that to come to an end.”