A new piece by Alan Wolfe in The Guardian entitled “The religious right’s last rites” is worth a read. In it he concludes:

Before the election of 2006, people like myself wondered whether this election would be the first to show that the influence of conservative religion in American politics had begun to peak. I think we now have an answer to that question. The Republicans under George Bush and Karl Rove went to the well once too often. Their strategy of mobilising the religious right and risking decreased support among moderates failed. This election was a triumph of the middle.