After God-o-Meter reported last night on Hillary Clinton’s “For Such a Time as This” faith tour in South Carolina, the Clinton camp called with a correction: the faith tour is nothing new, but a long-established effort that has the Senator Clinton meeting with Palmetto State ministers on almost trip she makes to the state.
“I don’t know if there’s a formal date for launching this tour,” Clinton South Carolina spokesman Zac Wright tells God-o-Meter, stressing that “For Such a Time As This” is not a an effort unto itself but more of an attitude that’s integrated into wider campaign.
Asked whether the Clinton campaign was taking a less ostentatious approach to faith outreach than the Obama campaign, which has staged both “40 Days of Faith and Family” and gospel music tours of South Carolina, Wright says, “I don’t want to speculate on someone else’s campaign. A core of who Hillary Clinton is is her faith. It’s not something you advertise.”
Indeed, authenticity concerns may undergird the Clinton campaign’s sensitivity to how the news media coverage its faith outreach. “The faith outreach and the faith work done by the Clinton campaign is based on what’s real and authentic for her and how she shares who she is with the country,” Burns Strider, Clinton’s Director of Faith Based Outreach, tells God-o-Meter. “And so there’s no reaction to what other campaigns do.”

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