Thought this article from today’s SF Chronicle (thanks for sending me the the link, Rob) had an interesting take on Hillary Clinton’s visit today to the Saddleback Church AIDS Conference. I have to admit, it was cool see her and hear her speech today:

A wise man once said it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven – and it used to be nearly as tough for a Democratic candidate to take a presidential campaign to a conservative evangelical church.

But Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton did just that today with a visit to one of the country’s most influential megachurches that dramatized the new Democratic efforts to win support from evangelical voters the party once considered out of reach.

Clinton received a standing ovation before a full house at Saddleback Church at the annual Global Summit on AIDS and the Church hosted by the Rev. Rick Warren and his wife Kay. Warren, the youthful, bearded, bluejeans-wearing pastor who hails from San Jose, is the author of “A Purpose Driven Life” – which has sold more than 23 million copies and now ranks as one of the best-selling nonfiction books in history. The church he and his wife lead attracts as many as 20,000 attendees to its diverse Sunday services – Gospel, traditional, “worship rock,” Polynesian and singles among them.

Last year, Warren welcomed Democratic Sen. Barack Obama to the stage here, and this year, the minister invited all presidential candidates in both parties to address his congregation on the HIV pandemic. With just five weeks until voting begins in the presidential nominating contest, only Clinton came in person; Republicans Mike Huckabee, John McCain and Mitt Romney, and Democrats Obama and John Edwards addressed the congregation through videos.

Clinton delivered an unusually personal, often emotional speech that quoted regularly from Scripture – and explored issues including her religious experiences.

“I was fortunate enough to be raised to understand the power and the purpose of prayer … but had I not been, probably one week in the White House would have turned me into one,” she said to laughs.

JG