Over the next hour we will be live from the Futures Forum at the Missouri J-School Centennial. In addition to blog posts be sure to check out my twitter page for more constant updates. For updates from all of the forums at the centennial go to this page.
First up at Politics and Religion is Dan Gilgoff, author of God-O-Meter on Beliefnet he has been reflecting on the 2004 Presidential campaign of George Bush and how the campaign was able to reach out to religious, particularly Evangelical Americans.
Moving to the 2008 election, Gilgoff is now reflecting Sen. Barack Obama's job at reaching out to religious voters. Also noting that Sen. John McCain's campaign is not doing the best job at reaching out.
Next up at the Politics and Religion forum is
Cathleen Falsani, religion columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times. Currently reflecting on 2004 Illinois campaign for the Senate. Falsani's blog can be found here.
Falsani is currently discussing her work on a 2004 series of interviews with politicians. She is reflecting on the process that went into getting the interviews.
Falsani is shifting her focus onto the 2008 presidential campaign describes the campaign as "Jesus-off" noting that there are two Evangelical presidential candidates, as well as a Pentecostal and Catholic vice presidential candidates.
The session has now turned to Q & A. The first question raised a debate about whether or not Gov. Sarah Palin is a pentecostal. The second question shifted the discussion to what aspect a candidate's faith should play in a voter's decision.
The discussion how now changed to the state of the religion beat or religious journalism. Issues raised have included what should be covered, the quality of coverage, specialists vs. non-specialists, the downsizing of religion sections across the country.
There was a short discussion of the impact of the Jewish vote in the upcoming election, focusing especially on Sen. Joe Lieberman who was considered a potential running mate for McCain.
