Obama Can Count

In 2008 Barack Obama managed to make the GOP play defense in a bunch of red states like VA, IN, NC, and more than held his own in Democratic strongholds. His first substantive move to expand the Democratic base into the Deep South and West has been roundly slammed by gay and lesbian activists - selecting Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inauguration.

I'm going to waste a lot of time on this as anybody can see what's going on here:

Estimated percentage of population that's gay - anywhere from 2% to slightly under 10%. Percentage of gay people who are going to vote Republican, about the same percentage of people who think NASA faked the moon landing.

Estimated percentage of the population that classifies itself as Evangelical - probably around 25%-29% of the population. Percentage of those folks who might consider voting Democratic is pretty substantial.

The media's constant reference to Warren's church as a "mega" church bugs me, and seems to sound a bit too much like Mega Lo Mart for my tastes. I think it reflects an underlying confusion in the media about evangelicals specifically and anyone who actually believes in God generally. But the realization among Democrats that many people of faith are open to listening to Obama is smart politics plain and simple.