USA Today reports:

With the Democratic presidential nomination in his grasp, Sen. Barack Obama is making a full-throttle push for centrist evangelicals and Catholics.

It's a move that's caught off guard some conservative evangelicals, who say they are surprised and dismayed to see a progressive-minded politician attempting to conscript their troops. At the same time, they say Sen. John McCain has done little to court their affections.

"Obama," the piece notes, "has clearly learned a lesson from previous, unsuccessful Democratic presidential candidates: Ignore - or dismiss - evangelicals at your peril." Nonetheless, he's certainly looking at an uphill climb:

Despite the concerted push, Obama faces a tough task in trying to loosen the GOP's hold on a majority of white churchgoers. A recent poll by Calvin College found McCain leading Obama 57% to 25% among evangelicals and 43% to 35% among Catholics.

Abortion and gay marriage, the piece points out, remain major sticking points in Obama's outreach efforts--but, as we've seen, the religious left is often more than willing to cast these issues aside. The more interesting question revolves around McCain's current reticence with the religious crowd...and how it will evolve in the coming months as the heat gets turned up.