Clinton, Democrats find religion, court evangelical voters

By Carla Marinucci - San Francisco Chronicle
Friday, November 30, 2007 - Web Link
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November 30, 2007

A wise man once said it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven - and it used to be nearly as tough for a Democratic candidate to take a presidential campaign to a conservative evangelical church.

But Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton did just that Thursday with a visit to one of the country's most influential megachurches that dramatized the new Democratic efforts to win support from evangelical voters that the party once considered out of reach.

Clinton received a standing ovation from a full house at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest at the annual Global Summit on AIDS and the Church hosted by the Rev. Rick Warren and his wife, Kay. Warren, a youthful, bearded, blue-jeans-wearing pastor who hails from San Jose, is the author of "A Purpose Driven Life" - which has sold more than 23 million copies and ranks as one of the best-selling nonfiction books in history. The church that he and his wife lead attracts as many as 20,000 attendees to its diverse Sunday services - gospel, traditional, "worship rock," Polynesian and singles among them.

Last year, Warren welcomed Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois to the stage at Saddleback, and this year, the minister invited all the presidential candidates in both parties to address his congregation on the HIV pandemic. With just five weeks until voting begins in the presidential nominating contest, only Clinton came in person; Republicans Mike Huckabee, John McCain and Mitt Romney and Democrats Obama and John Edwards addressed the congregation through videos.

Clinton delivered an unusually personal, often emotional speech that quoted regularly from Scripture and explored issues including her religious experiences.