Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, erstwhile presidential candidate, says his choice for president, Senator McCain, needs to talk more about his personal faith. “I think he should,” Brownback tells National Public Radio, “but not just as a way to warm up to Christian conservatives, but to show his country his heart. I think the country wants to see that, wants to understand that.”

Brownback, who made the remarks near the end of an interview on “All Things Considered” Wednesday, wears three hats in the McCain campaign: as one of its national co-chairs, as the man in charge of Catholics for McCain and as co-chair of the Arizonan’s Judicial Advisory Committee. (“The consistent issue is the Supreme Court,” Brownback says, adding in response to a question that it would “be a possibility” that McCain would appoint justices likely to overturn Roe v. Wade.)

Clearly, there is a pattern emerging here among commentators, some from among the Washington punditocracy and some from prominent McCain supporters: For the candidate to connect better with social conservatives, he’s got to talk more about God.

For the record, McCain’s theme the past several days has been energy policy.

3