America: Conservative Christians are meeting in Washington this weekend to work out a strategy for getting "values voters" - those who vote mainly on such issues as abortion and gay rights - to the polls this November.
Such voters played a crucial role in 2004 and may even have cost John Kerry the presidency by turning out in record numbers in Ohio, where the election was decided.
This year, however, issues such as restricting access to abortion, banning embryonic stem-cell research and banning gay marriage have been all but absent from the campaign in most states.
Anti-gay marriage amendments are on the ballot in eight states, but voters seem unimpressed by the candidates' views on such issues, preferring to focus on the economy, the Iraq war and national security.
Americans remain religious, with 90 per cent believing in God and two out of three saying they pray every day. However, a poll by the liberal Center for American Values in Public Life reported this week that abortion and gay rights rank last in importance for most Americans when they vote. "There's been a lot of talk about values voters, and a lot of that talk is just plain wrong," said Robert Jones, the centre's executive director.
"Most Americans do not think restricting access to abortion and keeping gay couples from getting married are the most important issues facing voters. When Americans think about voting their values, they're thinking primarily about candidates' honesty and integrity."
Even among evangelical Christians, issues such as addressing poverty and providing affordable healthcare rank higher than abortion and gay rights.
The gay marriage issue has gone off the boil politically in recent months, after courts in a number of states struck down legislation that would allow gays to marry, leaving liberal Massachusetts as the only state to allow it. Leading Democrats support restrictions to make abortion "safe, legal and rare". Republicans who want a more comprehensive ban, or who oppose the morning-after pill, have faced a backlash from moderate voters.
Radical Christian conservatives are disappointed that the Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Congress have not promoted the "values agenda" more aggressively in the past six years.
They complain that the leadership has given only tepid backing to a campaign for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, and has not appointed more conservative judges to federal courts.
Some fear that new supreme court justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito will go the way of many earlier conservative appointees and become more moderate as time goes on.
Conservative activists warn that their base could be tempted to stay at home in November rather than vote for a Republican party they feel has betrayed them.
Perhaps the biggest change in the political climate has been the Democrats' newfound enthusiasm for using the language of values and wearing their own religious convictions on their sleeve.
In Virginia last year, Democrat Timothy Keane was elected governor after campaigning on Christian radio stations, proclaiming that: "My family and Christian faith are the core values that guide me."
In Ohio, another Democrat, Ted Strickland, is running for governor with speeches and ads reminding voters that he is an ordained Methodist minister.
Meanwhile, moderate Christians are mobilising to reclaim the language of values and religious faith from their more conservative brethren.
The rise of megachurches, which tend to play down doctrinal differences on issues of sexual morality, has softened the attitudes of many Christians.
This week, Jim Wallis, a liberal evangelical preacher, launched Red Letter Christians, which takes its name from the red ink some bibles use to highlight the words spoken by Christ.
The campaign will open offices in battleground states and provide voter guides, speakers and information on such issues as poverty, social justice, education and the environment rather than abortion and gay rights.
"God is not a Republican or Democrat. That must be obvious, but it must be said," Mr Wallis said.
