The Tennessee Liberal

Last night, Democrat Tim Kaine was elected Governor of Virginia in a win over Jerry Kilgore.

While Kaine spent a lot of time smartly riding the coattails of the uber-popular current Governor, Mark Warner, he also took a tack that more progressives and liberals should take: he didn't lay down when challenged on moral issues. The Washington Post today highlights Kaine's use of faith as his shield against an amazingly underhanded GOP attack on the death penalty:

Kaine defended himself against Kilgore's attack on the subject by saying that it is his beliefs as a deeply religious Catholic that lead him to oppose the death penalty and abortion. But he also said he would follow the law on capital punishment and advocate laws that protect the right to abortion.

"The elite never really got that argument," said David Eichenbaum, one of Kaine's media advisers, referring to columnists and others who wondered how Kaine could be, in his words, "morally" opposed and yet pledge not to try to change the law. "But people who heard him got it."

What "the elites" didn't get is that it is, in fact, possible to separate your faith from your duty to serve the people. Liberals have been so soured on the prospect of faith by years of harassment at the hands of fundamentalists that they have lost sight of this most progressive of tenets.

A George Mason professor is also quoted in the story:

"I think this is an interesting test case for Democrats to see if you can run a faith-based campaign focused on values and do so as a progressive candidate in a Southern state," Rozell said.

It worked, Rozell said, because of Kaine's frequent reference to his service as a missionary in Honduras while in law school and his familiarity with the language of religion. "It did not come off as calculated," he said.

And there's the point. It works if it is real. As liberals, we accept people of all faiths and lack thereof. You don't have to be religious - Christian or otherwise - to be a good candidate. But if you are a religious progressive, then don't be afraid to say so, especially in the South.