Free Republic

Barely a week has passed since John McCain declared his candidacy to the chat show host David Letterman, but supporters of the Republican presidential hopeful fear he may already have lost the race. Faced with a sudden surge of support for his main rival, Rudy Giuliani, the Arizona senator is struggling to stay in the fight with the former New York mayor. Asked yesterday to explain why Mr Giuliani appears to have established a commanding lead so soon among Republican voters, he confessed: "I don't know. If I did it would be a lot closer." New opinion polls make Mr...

>Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean says he's going to talk about his religious faith. But what's that got to do with what kind of president he'd be? Granted, George W. Bush is the most overtly observant Christian to hold the presidency in at least a quarter century. Retired Gen. Wesley Clark says he plans on making faith central to his campaign. The Democratic primaries also have drawn as candidates an Orthodox Jew and an ordained (Pentecostal) minister. There's obvious benefit in having someone who's serious about living a moral life as president. But a few throwaway lines during a campaign...