If they really feel like attacking a Christian church, all of it's parishioners and energizing the African American electorate in a way this country has never before witnessed... Let em.

I don't think this is an issue they can win on, even the republicans in my area that I've spoken to think this whole manufactured scandal is distasteful and stupid.

The most common thing I've heard is it's best for republicans if this just goes away, because they're worried if it's still around close to the elections, it's going to anger and therefor drastically improve the African American turnout for Democrats in November and their party will be slaughtered because of it... So it seems that the common wisdom about the repub party might be true, they honestly do seem to count on low voter turnout to win elections and the thought of an energized, angry Democratic base seems to scare the living hell out of them.

They're really hoping Senator Clinton wins the nomination, because they think she'll be easiest to attack and beat; and an Obama nomination seems to scare them. I had a few tell me that it isn't fair against Obama, because they can't attack him without everyone saying they're a party of racist bigots.

(Granted I do live in Northern Michigan, where being a racist bigot is not typically seen as a social plus, even among the republicans... So I don't know how repubs are reacting to this in places where it is socially acceptable to be a racist bigot. Might be a totally different ballgame in other parts of the country.)  

So I really don't know that this is nearly as big of a deal as people think it is... It might even end up to be a bonus. At least the repubs I know seem to think it is and anything that has the repubs soiling their britches is a good thing in my book.

I wasn't all that hip to Senator Obama at first, but the longer this thing goes on, I'm seeing more and more reasons why he should be our next Democratic nominee and our next President.