Party Faithful: Can the Democrats get a foothold on the religious vote?

By Peter J. Boyer

Issue: Sept 8

Heeding the words of advisor Karl Rove, Bush went after the Catholic vote. He was a pretty convincing Catholic. (Did you know Jeb's one?) Anyway, Bush's second victory is attributed in part to his success with the Catholics. 

So when John McCain hit the campaign trail, he planned to take a similar approach. Then he received the endorsement of a megachurch pastor, John Hagee, who calls the Catholic Church the antichrist. Oops. Eventually McCain rejected the endorsement.