A new Pew Research Center study confirms much of this faith-and-politics newshound's beef with the media. The report is packed with too many noteworthy findings for one blog post, but the most salient was that coverage is episodic and narrow, for Republican candidates

More than one-third (35%) of all religion-related campaign stories focused on Romney, a Mormon, who ultimately lost his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Most of Romney’s coverage (66%) occurred in December 2007 when he gave his “Faith in America” speech.

as well as Democrats:

An influence early on in the campaign, Wright would become a major part of the media story line, or press narrative, for Obama. In the first four months of 2008 – roughly the period when the controversy surrounding Wright’s sermons began to develop traction – Obama was the focal point of 55% of religion-related campaign stories. In about half of these stories (47%), Wright was a lead newsmaker as well, often accompanying Obama in the headline or lead.

In sum:

These findings suggest a continuing discomfort among news organizations in tackling deep questions of how candidates’ personal faith may influence their public leadership. When the press does cover such stories, it tends to focus on discrete events – such as a speech, video or TV appearance – rather than the underlying connections, and often the coverage is fairly short-lived.

The unstated downside here is that this type of coverage diminishes the incentive for candidates to connect their faith to their platforms. The study's sample only extended through April, so it's possible that coverage of faith-based initiatives has tilted things for the better, but the recent overinflation of James Dobson's attacks and the continuing fascination with the horse-race aspect of religious outreach suggest that journalism needs a new paradigm for religion and politics.