Once again taking the campaign to church, candidate Kerry and help-mate Jesse Jackson tell black voters to just ignore the gay marriage issue. According to the Washington Times:

Mr. Kerry attended Mass at a Catholic church in North Miami, and then spoke during services at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Miami , as he and several black Democratic leaders tried to rally black voters.

"How many of you — someone from your family — married somebody of the same sex?" Mr. Jackson asked of the congregation of about 500. After nobody raised a hand, he asked, "Then how did that get in the middle of the agenda?" "If your issues are cancer and Medicare and education and jobs and Social Security and decent housing, then how did someone else put their agenda in the front of the line?" he asked.

Following him a few minutes later, Mr. Kerry urged his audience to try to ignore diversions from the issues Mr. Jackson had mentioned. "All they're going to do is attack and attack and try and divert, and push some hot button that has nothing to do with the quality of your life on a daily basis," the senator from Massachusetts said.

But will voters actually avert their eyes from the big pink elephant crashing around the living room? Maybe not:

The issue of banning homosexuals from marrying is a wild card, with polls showing black voters overwhelmingly in support of such a ban.

Kerry reaches for the old canard that the Republicans suppressed black votes:

Mr. Kerry told the congregation he is taking steps to allay the grievance of many Florida blacks that their votes were not counted in 2000. "Never again will a million African-Americans be denied their right to exercise their vote in the United States of America," he said.

Fear mongering and condescension: classic Democratic campaign strategy.

Hat tip: RealClearPolitics.

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