Rush and Dick and Newt are in a dead heat. No Dubya, no Sarah. Is that good or bad news? Read the USA Today/Gallup survey for more details:

Gingrich as the standard-bearer of the Republican religious bloc? He just became Catholic, but he can still rouse ’em like the Baptist he was raised, as Dan Gilgoff writes at USNews. At a recent “Rediscovering God in America” conference in Virginia Beach, Newt was testifying. Some tidbits:

–We are in a period when we are surrounded by paganism. And paganism is on offence and that’s why our first great challenge is spiritual.

–Reignite in people an understanding that the heart of your life is subordination to God, the heart of your life is seeking God’s will and that all of us are weak and vulnerable, all of us make mistakes, but that all are welcomed by a loving God.

–Reach out to everybody in the country who is not yet saved and…help them understand the spiritual basis of a creator-endowed society.

Tip to The Dish.