These assumptions may explain the general tone-deafness with which some leaders approach evangelicals. In the summer of 2005, an unnamed party official explained Democratic outreach to evangelicals this way to U.S. News and World Report: “We’re dealing with a serious bloc of people, not just crazies with big Bibles.” Imagine Ken Mehlman explaining Republican outreach to black voters by saying, “These are not just lazy high school dropouts.”
When Howard Dean attempted to make things better in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, he just made them worse. Tellingly, if unintentionally, he distinguished Democrats from Christians: “We [Democrats] have an enormous amount in common with the Christian community and particularly with the evangelical Christian community.”
Joe Knippenberg has interesting thoughts, links, quotes and pastry (though you have to go to his office and take the pastry from him).