McCain's Fondness for Gambling: A Pitch to Religious Voters

When Barack Obama earlier in the campaign talked about McCain's penchant for gambling, he turned it into a metaphor: McCain would gamble with the economy. But at the time I suspected there was something more to the Obama tactic than a message about special interest money. Surely they must have known that McCain's connection's to the gambling industry, and his personal proclivity for gamblingf, would turn off some religious Christians.

My suspicions have deepened. Campaign Money Watch, a money-and-politics watchdog group, has begun running an ad about McCain's connections to the gambling industry. The ad makes no mention of the moral dimensions of gambling. But behold where they have decided to run the ads: Lynchburg, Virginia, home of Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, and Tallahassee, Florida, a conservative part of the state - that's right, evangelical-heavy areas in two battleground states.

"We knew that religious conservatives would be motivated by their concern about gambling," David Donnelly, director of the group, told me. "And you add to that their concern about campaign contributions. It's a combustible mix."

Why won't Obama come out and attack McCain from the right--criticize him for his yen for gambling and closeness to an industry that many Christians believe is immoral? Indeed in many states, Christian groups have teamed up with minorities, who feel that "predatory gambling" hurts their communities most. Wouldn't that be a perfect way to show how you unite strange bedfellows and subtly appeal to religious Christians?

Why hasn't he done that? One word: Nevada.

It's one of a small list of states that went for Bush in 2004 and Obama can win this year. He's campaigned there 16 times so far. I suspect he also doesn't want to seem prudish, which is why, when he was tweaking McCain on this earlier in the year, he also mentioned that he likes to play poker.