Faith-Based Initiative

"Instead of getting angry at somebody for opposing you on something, you're just praying for them," he says. "You just pray blessings on them, blessings on their family."

Because of his emphasis on compassion, Brownback does not fit the stereotype of the angry Christian conservative. This persona was embodied sensationally by "Pitchfork Pat" Buchanan and his talk of America's "religious war," by Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who once imagined "rampant" lesbianism in his state's schools, by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who said abortionists, feminists, gays and pagans helped cause the 9/11 terror attacks. (Falwell later took it back.)

Brownback has teamed up with some of the most liberal members of the Senate to help victims of sex trafficking, and suffering Sudanese. He quotes Bono on the struggles of the poor and encourages college students to take their spring breaks in Africa. He has worked for women's rights in Afghanistan and for North Korean refugees. When the issue of illegal immigration blew up in the Senate earlier this year, Brownback embraced President Bush's plan for comprehensive reform, infuriating some conservatives who see it as too lenient. He has pushed for an African American history museum on the Mall, saying he became committed after a "divine intervention" came to him during prayer.

"It's a consistent kind of a viewpoint that he has that's across the spectrum, and I think a lot of political leaders sort of pick and choose," says Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).

"The wonderful thing about Sam is yes, he is ambitious, but it doesn't change anything," says David Barron, who coordinates a consortium of environmental groups called the International Conservation Partnership and has worked with Brownback on conservation issues. "He doesn't worry that someone's going to think he's a squishy liberal because he wants to feed people."

It would, in fact, be a grave error to characterize Brownback as squishy.

When he entered the House as part of the Republican sweep of 1994, Brownback argued for dismantling the departments of Commerce, Education, Energy, and Housing and Urban Development as part of an effort to downsize the federal government. Some years later he put forward the theory that part of the problem with the Social Security system was abortion, because too few children were growing up to become workers who could pay into the system.

During the 2004 Republican convention, Brownback told a closed-door rally, "We must win this culture war,'' according to the New York Times. "I say we fight."

"He has this kind of soft physical presence," says Burdett Loomis, a political scientist at the University of Kansas. "I think Sam Brownback is a very tough customer."

Brownback believes that research on embryonic stem cells is immoral. In a hearing in 2000, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) argued that research could save lives, and pointed out that the embryos in question were left over from fertility treatments and were going to be discarded anyway.

Brownback compared Specter's argument to the gruesome medical experiments performed on victims of the Holocaust.

"You had the Nazis in World War II saying, of these people, 'They are going to be killed,' " Brownback said. " 'Why do we not experiment on them and find out what happens with these experiments? They are going to die anyway.' "