Hi, Thurman and David--

Thanks so much for your thoughtful post yesterday, Thurman. It's such a pleasure to discuss these topics civilly on the web! We agree on a number of areas, but I did want to clarify a few things that I wrote yesterday, raise some questions about several of your points as well, and get your thoughts on a question that has been puzzling me for a while.

To begin, I didn't mean to argue that Casey could neutralize Santorum's advantage from religious conservatives by actually gaining the support of organizations like the Pennsylvania Pastors Network. Re-reading my post, I see that I put that somewhat imprecisely. It's possible that Casey will indeed benefit in November from an increased share of the religious conservative vote, due in no small part to the fact that his pro-life stand renders that objection of theirs moot.

More important in my view--and this is where I see it working as a strategy for pro-life Democrats as well--is the fact that by forcing PPN and others to play by the rules, Casey has taken away their ability to operate as an arm of the GOP. Will they still rally the troops to vote for Santorum? Of course. But by forcing PPN to invite both camps to their events, the Casey campaign has effectively shut down their operations for a number of months.

It's true that Casey's pro-life position has allowed him to make inroads with some evangelicals who wouldn't otherwise engage with him during a campaign. A few months ago, I wrote about an event the National Association of Evangelicals sponsored at Messiah College in Pennsylvania to highlight the issue of global warming. Casey showed up and shared the stage with leading evangelicals; Santorum, whose stance on environmental issues is decidely weaker, stayed at home and was ripped apart by the largely conservative crowd.

But I would argue that what Casey has done to engage--and thereby partially defang--the PPN is definitely repeatable by pro-choice Democratic candidates. I've talked to a number of state party chairs in reddish states who have described to me the "get to know you" meetings they have been holding with conservative religious leaders in their states, sometimes the very first time that those folks have ever had a Democrat reach out and ask to talk. These Democratic party chairs are under no illusion that they will convince the religious leaders to start voting Democratic. But they do have hope that by having respectful conversations, they can soften the perception that Democrats are hostile to or uncomfortable with religion. As one of them told me, "If they come away from those meetings and stop telling other Republican voters that we have horns and are amoral, then maybe we'll have a better chance of picking up those voters." Yes, abortion comes up in those meetings. But that's not where the discussion ends.

As for Tim Kaine, I would argue that far from hiding the fact that he was opposed to the death penalty, he was very upfront about it. And that contributed to the perception that his Catholicism was authentic, which I think helped him with voters. He addressed the issue head-on in at least one major debate, and in campaign ads, as well. That could have been a risky decision, given that the vast majority of Virginia voters support the death penalty. But in the same way that people say they admire Bush for knowing what he believes, even when they disagree with him, Kaine actually benefitted from taking an unpopular decision. He wasn't saying, well, I'll say I'm pro-life, because that's popular, but I'd better support the death penalty or I'll get creamed. He applied his life position consistently. And I think he got points for that.

I'll save the challenge posed to Democrats by pro-life candidates for tomorrow, because I have too much to say for the little time I have to finish this post. But I will end by soliciting your thoughts on a question I don't know the answer to. It's long bothered me that for the past thirty years, abortion politics has required Americans to choose sides. You are either pro-choice or pro-life. If a politician supports a parental notification law, he or she is labeled pro-life by abortion rights supporters. But if the political leader also opposes a "partial-birth abortion" ban, the anti-abortion side will tag him or her as unacceptably pro-choice. There is no word for a middle-ground position in American politics.

I want a term for that middle position. Maybe that's just stupid and on the level of semantics and doesn't matter. But I suspect that most people on both sides would drop out and fall somewhere in the middle. There's a difference between a pro-life politician who wants to criminalize abortion and a pro-life politician who can't bring herself to vote against a bill to limit abortion. We should have a way of distinguishing between the two, and voters should know, as well. As always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on all of this and more.

All the Best,
Amy