McCain, Obama make last ditch effort to woo Christian voters

|PIC1|The tussle for the White House played out in churches across the US on the final Sunday as both presidential campaigns made an eleventh hour effort to win the crucial Christian vote.

Republican candidate John McCain's campaign enlisted around 15,000 church members to hand out political literature, take part in peer to peer phone banks, and encourage others to vote for the 'Grand Old Party' on Tuesday, said Bob Heckman, director of conservative outreach for McCain, according to the Associated Press.

One flier being passed around by members of Protestant megachurches and Catholic parishes in 14 states compares the views of McCain and his Democratic rival Barack Obama on crunch issues like rights of the unborn, same-sex unions and the nomination of judges.

"Who Shares Your Values? You decide," the flier states.

It leans in McCain's favour, however, by suggesting that Obama supports sex education for kindergartners. The claim refers to a bill supported by Obama in the Illinois Legislature that would have seen kindergarten children taught to defend themselves against sexual predators, according to AP.

Although both campaigns have gone lengths to win Christian voters, churches could lose their tax-exempt status if they are seen to be directly or indirectly fielding political candidates.

"We only urge them to do whatever they think is appropriate or customary within their congregation," Heckman was quoted by AP as saying. "The one thing we always do make clear is that if a church official would prefer we not distribute literature on church property, we respect their desires."

The Southern Baptist Convention is not endorsing one candidate over another, but is encouraging Christians to go to the polls and vote. The Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission sent a video to conservative churches to be used in their services or small group gatherings encouraging them to vote with "faith, family, marriage and life" in mind.

Similarly, Obama's campaign targeted black churches in South Carolina with a letter that was issue specific and focused on encouraging black Christians to vote, rather than appealing directly to them to vote him into the White House.

At some churches, the Obama campaign had arranged for buses to ship members straight from their Sunday services to polling stations where they could cast their votes early.