The Governor Speaks From a New Pulpit

Midway through his talk, Schuller interrupted Kaine and said: "Governor, I want to tell you that I am a specialist in sensing and seeing Christ coming through personalities and lives and voices, and I see Him in your eyes and I thank you that you are allowing, without embarrassment, your faith to come through."

Schuller's congregants in the cathedral -- many of whom live in a heavily Republican area -- gave Kaine extended applause after his remarks.

Unlike televangelists Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, both of whom live in Virginia, Schuller has largely stayed away from politics. Even so, he and his congregants gave a noteworthy reception to Kaine, especially considering the governor campaigned last year against a ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage and has vowed to protect abortion rights. He personally opposes abortion.

Kaine's willingness to talk about religion -- not politics -- seems to be winning him friends among social conservatives.

It is the exact formula Democratic strategists say their party's leaders need to embrace if they are to recapture the White House.

They say Democrats don't have to agree with the all of a church's teachings on issues such as abortion and school prayer, but they can't be viewed as overly secular, either. In 2004, some Democrats say, Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) lost the presidential election the day he said: "I don't wear my religion on my sleeve."

Kaine, Virginia's first Catholic governor, is discovering that voters seem to respect his willingness to talk about his religion. At least so far, Kaine appears to have suffered little political fallout from his decision to veto an expansion of the death penalty in Virginia. Kaine said he based his decision on his moral opposition to the death penalty, causing even Republicans to privately acknowledge they can't blame him for sticking to his beliefs.

Kaine has even found a few ways to outflank the Republican-controlled General Assembly on issues of importance to social conservatives, including his decision to make it easier for parents to opt out of the requirement that pre-high school girls be vaccinated against human papillomavirus. The strategy could serve Kaine well in a state where exit polls show 40 percent of the voters consider themselves to be born-again Christians.

But Kaine is not even midway through his four-year term. And, if history is a guide, it won't be easy for a Democrat to navigate the political minefields that surround issues of faith and politics, especially in a state that includes parts of the Bible Belt as well as the increasingly moderate Northern Virginia.

In light of last month's Supreme Court decision upholding a federal ban on late-term abortions, social conservatives may make a push in the General Assembly next year to further restrict abortion rights.

If the legislation lands on Kaine's desk, and he vetoes it, will he still be able to expect invitations to preach in front of evangelical churches?