News reports came out recently about a Gallup poll that showed that Mormons are the religious group with the lowest approval of President Barack Obama.  

In a Salt Lake Tribune article on the poll, Senator Ben McAdams, a Democrat and an active Latter Day Saint responded to the poll by saying that the policies Obama is working on, such as expanding health care coverage, are in line with LDS values and that over time LDS voters will realize that.  McAdams added: "A lot of the work of Democrats in Utah is to get people to look beyond party label to what values individual candidates hold that are directly in line with the beliefs of the LDS faith."

But Hinckley Institute Director Kirk Jowers said that isn't going to happen because Republicans have a monopoly on faith.  Jowers, who is a Republican and was considered as a potential lieutenant governor pick by Gary Herbert last year, said that "Mormons are well known for the F's: families, frugality, and faith.  Traditionally, those values have been more closely associated with conservatives and the Republican Party."

This is exactly the mythology Republicans would like to spread about Democrats.  And it clearly is not true.

I could provide a long list of Democratic politicians who hold those values Jowers thinks only Republicans have.  

We could begin with Harry Reid, who fits those values.

But here are a few other examples:

Robert Byrd, long time Democratic Senator from West Virginia, was a devoted family man.  He and his wife, Erma, were married for 69 years before she passed away.

Bob Casey, Jr., current Democratic Senator from Pennsylvania, is a devout Catholic.  He and his wife, who have been married for 25 years, have four daughters.

Casey's father, Bob Casey, was the governor of Pennsylvania and also a devout Catholic.  A Republican political operative I know who has worked with many Republican politicians, including many from Utah, spent time with the governor  a few years before Casey passed away in 2000.  This operative told me that he had never met a more spiritual political leader than Bob Casey.  

Joseph Lieberman, former Democratic vice presidential nominee and currently an independent who caucuses with the Democrats in the Senate, is a devout Orthodox Jew who will not break the Jewish sabbath.  

Then, there are religious Democrats at the state and local level.

Peter Corroon is a devout Catholic who attends mass with his family.

Sam Granato is an active Latter Day Saint.

Pat Jones, Senate Democratic leader, is an active Latter Day Saint.

Our local candidates also are dedicated to their family, personally concerned about their own finances and their stewardship of government funds (frugal), and people of religious faith.

Within our group of candidates from the Utah County Democratic Party, there are:

1. Three former LDS mission presidents
2. Two former LDS stake presidents
3. Two former LDS bishops
4. An LDS former stake primary president

Two of our candidates, Ted Barratt and Lane Henderson, were mayors of Utah County cities and delivered balanced budgets while mayors.  

Nor is all this true only of politicians.  It is also true of rank and file Democrats.  A 2005 Gallup survey found that 67 percent of Democrats say they attend church once a week or almost every week.

In Utah County, Democrats have made clear that we are people of faith.  The Utah County Democratic Party platform explicitly states that "we believe in the importance of religious faith."

I'd like to share my personal experience with this.  I've not done this publicly before because I consider these things sacred, and I will provide no names.  But the stories are germane to the point.

As the party chair, I have the opportunity to approach people to run for office.  Repeatedly, I would approach a prospective candidate who would tell me that he or she would consider the proposal, including through prayer.  When they responded later, they would sometimes share with me that their answer was the right thing for them to do or was not the right thing to do, after they had prayed about it.  Whichever, they felt they wanted God to be a part of their decision.  In one case, a prospective candidate told me she felt the answer to her prayer was that this wasn't what she should be doing at this time.  Shortly thereafter she was diagnosed with cancer.  

Yes, Mr. Jowers, these were Democratic candidates, not Republicans.