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Christianity Today's profiles of this year's election candidates will continue today with an article on George W. Bush. Yesterday, we profiled John Kerry.

"Let me give a big introduction to our brother," said an ebullient Herb Lusk as President George W. Bush walked into a room of Christian leaders in Philadelphia. Lusk, a leading evangelical in Pennsylvania, was welcoming Bush to People for People, a faith-based community service organization, at a midsummer rally.

"Let's not hold back anything in our welcome!" said the man known as the "praying tailback" in his NFL days. Bush's eyes responded, looking bright with the pleasure of friendship. In turn, he saluted Lusk as "a general in the army of compassion." Bush was clearly reaching out to his faith-based supporters.

As well he should. Bush's re-election strategy rests on a high turnout of pro-Bush churchgoers. Christian radio talk-show host Kevin McCullough says, "The church community is more strongly supportive of this President than any other I can remember in my lifetime."

Matthew Dowd, a Bush campaign strategist, told CT that their polling in July indicated 91 percent support from evangelicals.

But top GOP leaders believe that not all evangelicals share equal fervor for the President. They agree with research from presidential adviser Karl Rove, who said nearly 4 million evangelicals did not cast ballots in the 2000 election. That may have cost Bush the popular vote victory.

Dowd, who did that original analysis, told CT that evangelicals as a voting bloc underperformed by 15 percent to 20 percent of what the GOP anticipated in 2000. "There will be a concerted effort to make sure Bush partisans turn out," he said.

The "concerted effort" turned into a highly controversial plan in July: GOP campaign officials e-mailed church supporters asking them to identify 1,600 "friendly congregations" in Pennsylvania, a key swing state. Critics complained that the GOP was crossing a line in church-state relations.

Bush has also made it a point to visit many centers of his faith-based initiatives. Dowd told CT that Bush's visits, like his stopoff at People for People, offer something for nearly everyone. They reinforce existing support among moderate suburban Republicans, and these visits seed the African American community with Bush's ideas about faith-based interaction between churches and the federal government.

Afterward, church leaders buzzed about the visit. Many evangelicals like Bush personally and his core values, but others remain skeptical of the President's agenda. That fault line runs right through Lusk's own congregation (Greater Exodus Baptist) and his family.

Lusk himself left no doubt on where he stood: "I would not hesitate to speak for [Bush]. Once again, he is delivering a blow against poverty and dependency." However, Lusk carefully shifted gears when talking about the mixed views of his congregation and his family. Lusk's adult daughter Leah laughingly admitted, "My father and I argue about Bush all the time."

Leah steers an educational program for the church's nonprofit corporation. She was headed into the military through ROTC until the Iraq war broke out. She was not convinced the war was necessary. But Bush's visit nudged her a bit. "I am still deciding" was how she put it.

That's good news for the Bush campaign. Christianity Today also informally surveyed about 40 other influential evangelicals across the nation. Many of them spoke warmly about the President but also expressed clear disappointments with the administration, specifically his handling of foreign affairs, his inability to push the faith-based agenda through Congress, and the way he expresses his faith in public.

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October 2004, Vol. 48, No. 10