American Prospect has an interesting article up about freestyle evangelicals. They don't like gays, or abortion, but they also don't like separation of church and state, the media acting like they are all under the thrall of Tim LeHay or Pat Roberston, and their beliefs being politicized at every turn.
It's basically another of those articles where a loyal Bush group flirts with abandoning ship but then at the end say they won't (you hear the same thing from so-called fiscal conservatives, so-called liberal and moderate Republicans, so-called libertarians). I guess the part that would be most helpful to Democrats is that many of these people say they would seriously consider jumping to the party if not for the pro-choice stance. Since they are in the minority and have slightly less to lose than, say, a Republican who is pro-choice or pro-gay, the Democrats can afford to be a more diverse party than the GOP in terms of abortion or gun rights. Actually they are a more diverse party on abortion and gun rights than the media lets the public know about. I really do wonder if that's true or not, but who knows. It's unfortunate that in today's debate on any social issue, but particularly abortion, you have to be either totally for or totally against in some kind of purity test. I wonder what will happen to the Democrats in a few years when (as I think will eventually happen) minority groups no longer vote for them if they support any gay rights, any abortion rights, etc. It will certainly be a boon for the GOP.
http://www.prospect.org/print/V15/4/mcgarvey-a.html