Morning news brief from 770KKOB

It's TIME for Bernanke
Time magazine has announced its ``Person of the Year'' for 2009. It's Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Last year's winner was then-President-elect Barack Obama. Previous winners include George W. Bush and Bono.

Health bill compromises
The public insurance option that most senate Democrats wanted to include in health care reform legislation appears dead, as does a Medicare buy-in plan. But Democrats are nearing a compromise on the bill as they come to terms with the idea that they're not going to get everything they want in the nearly $1 trillion bill.

Raising the federal debt ceiling
The House plans to vote today on a $200 billion increase in the federal debt ceiling, extending the limit for two months. President Barack Obama says deficit spending is still needed to create jobs and stimulate the economy. But most Republicans and some moderate Democrats say the deficit is growing too large.

Trouble in Copenhagen
Police are using tear gas and batons to disperse crowds of protesters trying to disrupt the U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen. A police spokesman says 230 protesters have been detained. The demonstrators say they want to take over the global conference and turn it into a ``people's assembly.''

Teens need health screenings after sex
A new study suggests that half of all urban teenage girls may get one or more sexually transmitted infections within two years of becoming sexually active. Researchers at Indiana University say their findings point to the need to screen sexually active teenage girls sooner for infections.

NM Dems Closing the "God Gap" - Part Deux

For years Republicans appealed to people of faith with their Moral Majority and faith-based programs. President Bush even promised to be a compassionate conservative.

Now Democrats want to broaden their appeal to churches and Christian groups.

770 KKOB's Morning Show Host Bob Clark talked with me about Clyburn's visit and the impact it may have on this fall's election.

Listen to AUDIO from the segment here.

Like President Carter, who promised "Never To Lie," Democrats say they "walk the walk, not just talk the talk." They believe their moral convictions are more in tune with the beliefs of Christians, especially regarding important issues on poverty, health care, the environment and the war.

Last week God's House church, in Albuquerque, hosted a prayer breakfast for Martin Heinrich. The keynote speaker was U.S. House Majority Whip James Clyburn.

You can read about the origins of the God Gap in this 2007 Time Magazine article.

From Publisher's Weekly:
Senior Time editor Amy Sullivan says trying to understand American politics without looking at religion would be like trying to understand the politics of the Middle East without paying attention to oil. Her fresh look at the God gap reveals the chasm's depths and offers a bridge across. Sullivan, an evangelical, discusses party process as the Catholic and white evangelical vote for Democrats declined sharply in the 1980s. The story of this shift is as fascinating as it is timely. Starting in the 1960s, she traces the Second Vatican Council's impact on Catholics and the rise of Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority, and the effects of these changes upon politics. Sullivan focuses with special sharpness on John Kerry, a case study in how to mishandle religion during a political race and challenges the conventional wisdom that the right was religious and the left wanted religion scrubbed from the public square. Evangelical and political conservatives may be related, but they are not synonymous, says Sullivan; Clinton, after all, is a genuine Southern evangelical. Sullivan's account argues persuasively and optimistically that politically liberal and theologically orthodox evangelicals can be brought back to the Democratic Party.