Religion and the Republicans

A return visit to the God-o-Meter finds that there has been some intriguing movement on the Republican side in recent days.

Pat Robertson's endorsement seems to have helped Rudy Giuliani's ranking. And the endorsement John McCain received from former Republican presidential rival Sam Brownback, who made no real impact on the race as a candidate but remains a favorite of social conservatives, gave McCain's flagging campaign a boost -- albeit one that was not generally noticeable in the God-o-Meter rankings, since McCain's rating already was about as high as it could go.

The highest-rated candidate in the God-o-Meter is Democrat Barack Obama, but his ranking hasn't been revised in nearly a month, in spite of the "40 Days of Faith and Family" tour of South Carolina sponsored by his campaign. There hasn't been much movement on the Democratic side, with all the religious activity apparently generating from the Republican side.