c. 2007 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Howard Dean hopes to make a point to students at Eastern University on Thursday (March 29) before even saying a word.

“My real core message is my showing up,” Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said in an interview Wednesday.

Billed by Democrats as Dean’s first address to an evangelical audience, the speech aims to counter the “right wing propaganda machine” by presenting a “real live Democrat willing to talk to you,” said the former presidential candidate.

The larger strategy? To exploit what Democrats say is a generation gap between older evangelicals who stress divisive issues such as abortion and gay rights and younger evangelicals who seek partners to fight poverty and protect the environment.

“What you see in the evangelical movement is a split between those who got where they are by condemning others, and those who want to reach out to help others,” Dean said. “The new generation demands we come up with solutions and not just divisions.”

During the 2006 campaigns, several Democrats, including Sen. Robert Casey of Pennsylvania and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, took their message directly to young evangelicals at Christian colleges. And last summer, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., spoke about his faith with students at California’s Pepperdine University.

But it’s not a simple matter for Democrats to talk about religion, Dean said, because their party encompasses a variety of faith traditions.

“The issue of church and state is a very difficult issue for the party because unlike the Republican Party, it’s not homogeneous,” the chairman said. Jews and Muslim Americans play prominent roles, and so the party must be careful to respect their views, he said.

Still, Dean and other prominent Democrats have made significant efforts to reach out to evangelicals in recent years.

“It’s a sign of respect to ask people for their vote,” Dean said.

Democrats made modest gains among evangelicals in the 2006 election _ between 6 to 8 percentage points _ in part because they finally campaigned for evangelical support, Dean said.

About 70 percent of evangelicals voted Republican in 2006, according to exit polls, continuing trends that reach back to the 1980s.

“I don’t think we’re going to challenge the Republican dominance among evangelicals,” Dean said, adding that on the thorny issues of gay rights and abortion, many Democrats and evangelicals still don’t _ and may never _ agree.

“I think we have to find the common ground,” he said. “I don’t think you’re going to see the Democratic Party outlawing abortions, I don’t think you’re going to see it condemning gay people.”

But, he continued, the party can partner with Christians on reducing abortions and emphasizing Jesus’ message of inclusion.

“When I meet with the Catholic hierarchy I don’t challenge them on abortion rights,” Dean said. “I talk about partnership with them on other issues like immigration where there’s common ground.”

Eastern University is not exactly hostile territory. It is affiliated with American Baptist Churches USA, a moderate denomination, and is located outside Philadelphia, a solidly Democratic city. Moreover, Tony Campolo, a prominent evangelical who sits on a DNC advisory counsel, teaches at the university.

Dean said his speech would touch on his own faith background as a “New England Congregationalist” who often visits other houses of worship and is married to a Jewish woman. And he will emphasize recent work Democrats and evangelical Southern Baptists have done to rebuild the Gulf Coast.

“I think if we can reach out and work together,” Dean said, “the stereotypes will melt away.”

KRE/LF END BURKE