I suppose he must be trying to appeal to both the fundamentalists and the rest of the Christians. Hey, don’t waht to leave any stone unturned, right? I wonder what happens when he speaks to a crowd of Jews. . . is he then Jewish? Well, with most Republicans one begins to think they use religion merely as a way to campaign. With McCain I’m not so sure. From the Assocated Press:

Campaigning in this conservative, predominantly Baptist state, McCain called himself a Baptist when speaking to reporters Sunday and noted that he and his family have been members of the North Phoenix Baptist Church in his home state of Arizona for more than 15 years.

“It’s well known because I’m an active member of the church,” the Arizona senator said.

While McCain has long talked about his family’s and his own attendance at the Arizona church, he appears to have consistently referred to himself as Episcopalian in media reports.

In a June interview with McClatchy Newspapers, the senator said his wife and two of their children have been baptized in the Arizona Baptist church, but he had not. “I didn’t find it necessary to do so for my spiritual needs,” he said.

He told McClatchy he found the Baptist church more fulfilling than the Episcopalian church, but still referred to himself as an Episcopalian.

The Associated Press asked McCain on Saturday how his Episcopal faith plays a role in his campaign and life. McCain grew up Episcopalian and attended an Episcopal high school in Alexandria, Va.

“It plays a role in my life. By the way, I’m not Episcopalian. I’m Baptist,” McCain said. “Do I advertise my faith? Do I talk about it all the time? No.”

OK, I’m going to resist further making fun of Mr. McCain for not getting his church membership straight. When he says that he does not talk about it a lot, that appears to be the case. Certainly McCain’s faith does not show up in his bios on either his campaign or Senate web sites. Maybe McCain just didn’t pay atention to whether he was referred to as Episcopalian or Baptist in the press. Could it possibly be that with McCain the notion of faith itself trumped the political implications?

Why is this important? Well, it’s only important in Republican circles, where the brand name of one’s faith is crucial. With all the spending done by Mitt Romney, he can’t seem to rise very fast in the polls. That could be due to inveterate flip flopping, or it could be due to a Republican electorate who can’t stomach the Mormon brand. I’m betting on the latter. The temptation here, then, is to think MCain is just branding himself twice, as both Episcopalian and Baptist. McCain has this undeserved reputation as a straight talker, and he’s trampled on that reputation many times in the last couple years while pandering to votes, but I’m not so sure this is a case of the same.