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Cortes is an accurate barometer of Hispanics' sentiments because he has had a long, friendly relationship with McCain. "Obama's people have been calling us regularly," he notes. "We had one phone call from McCain's group." In South Florida, Cuban evangelicals feel torn between their pro-life and social compassion stances. "I feel stretched tight over what to do," one Cuban American ministry leader told CT.

After McCain's barrel loop back toward social conservatives with Palin on the ticket, his supporters hope that he is now closing in on Obama for a last-minute victory. Bauer enthused that the Democrats have lost their chance to win over some of the traditionally Republican states. Land is "ecstatic," Dobson "very excited," and Family Research Council's Tony Perkins—"checkmate for the Democrats." A recent Pew survey found that the average voter says that their conservative moral values put them "much closer to McCain than to Obama."

What McCain lacks in the personal relationships with evangelicals, his campaign strategists hope he will make up with his pro-life, pro-family patriotism. In the end, fear of Obama-style liberalism, in league with a Democratically controlled Congress, may bring evangelicals out to the polls for McCain. Still, despite his potent stories, McCain has yet to capture the evangelical imagination. Tony Carnes, based in New York City, is a senior writer for CT.

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October 2008, Vol. 52, No. 10