Religion and health loom large in election

[sniffa]

With less than two weeks until Iowa kicks off the presidential nomination battles, several contenders took their campaigns to church on Sunday and a leading Republican tried to allay concerns about his health.

Front-running Democrat Hillary Clinton, a New York senator seeking to be the first female president, won an effusive welcome at a mainly black Baptist church in snowy Waterloo, Iowa, where she criticized the Bush administration for failing to expand health care coverage and alienating foreign allies.

"Do we take a leap of faith and once again bind the wounds of those who hurt, create a country that we're proud of, assume the leadership and moral authority of the world that we should or will we continue to just slowly but surely fall backwards?" she said, also touching on the upcoming Christmas holiday.

Religion plays a big role in politics in the United States, where levels of belief and church attendance are much higher than in Europe.

http://www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUSN2128411020071223

[Hieronymus]

1. Giuliani would never qualify for health insurance if he weren't on the

public dole.