Research showed the number had fallen since the summer to roughly 8,000 people a day.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (Lauren Victoria Burke/WDCPIX.COM)

The Pulitzer Prize winning Web site run by the staff of the St. Petersburg Times originally fact checked the claim in July and determined it was true. But because their evaluation was based on unemployment numbers that have since changed, and because Harkin used the figure in a speech on the Senate floor Sunday, the staff decided “the talking point was due for a checkup.”

What they found was that the 14,000 figure was no longer true. The number of people who lose their insurance has fallen to a still sizable 7,784 per day, based on a model developed by Urban Institute health care scholar John Holahan.

Holahan and his co-author, using a baseline of 4.6 percent unemployment in 2007, calculated that 2.6 million people would lose coverage if the unemployment rate climbed to 7 percent; 3.7 million if it went to to 8 percent; 4.8 million at 9 percent; and 5.8 million at 10 percent.  The estimates took into account people who lost their jobs but then switched to a spouse’s plan or extended their coverage through COBRA, the federal law that guarantees people who lose their job can still get continued health coverage.

Applying Holahan’s calculations to the actual rise in unemployment from November 2008 to June 2009, we found that the number was right around the 14,000 people per day that [President Barack] Obama cited. We checked with health care experts, and they, too, agreed that the 14,000 number was just about right.

When extended out through November, though, the number falls. Since January, unemployment has risen from 7.6 percent to 10 percent, meaning 2.6 million jobs have been lost so far in 2009, according to Holahan’s calculations. Dividing 2.6 million by 334 days means 7,784 people lost insurance every day.

And now he’s in John McCain’s corner. Which is no small thing for the presidential candidate.With a growing national reputation for making provocative comments that many conservatives regard as fearless, King, in the right settings around the nation, could give a big boost to McCain with reluctant Republicans.

Of course, McCain and King would have to set a few boundaries so King doesn’t force the Arizona senator to go off-message with a YouTube moment. If King sticks to basics, he’s an asset, because of his unassailable conservative bona fides.

Speaking to a crowd of nearly 600 Republicans this past weekend in Carroll, King made a passionate case for the campaign of presumptive GOP presidential nominee McCain.

The next president, King said, may very well appoint two or even four members of the U.S. Supreme Court. Stay home, disgruntled Republicans, at the risk of spending the rest of your lives watching your causes and issues, legislative initiatives at the state and local levels, even school board votes, overturned by liberal courts, goes King’s potent line of reasoning.

Many conservatives were not with McCain to begin with and remain wary of his maverick ways. But it’s high time for Republicans to fall in line, primarily because of the Supreme Court appointments, King said.

“Here’s the most important thing,” he said. “If you look across these presidential candidates, we don’t know if it’s going to be Obama, we don’t know if it’s going to be Hillary. But here’s what I do know. I know that Bill Clinton nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court. She is the model, the epitome, of a liberal activist judge. She’s the person that the text of this Constitution that I carry with me every day means nothing unless she can use it as a shield to protect her judicial activism.

“She has a liberal attitude about how society would be shaped and how life should be treated with contempt unless it happens to be a death penalty for a multiple murderer, and also with disrespect toward marriage and our Christian values.

“We are sitting here on the precipice of the risk of going into the darkest of judicial appointment ages if either Hillary or Obama is the next president of the United States. You will see appointments to the Supreme Court, of which there will likely be at least two, perhaps four. If that happens you will see the clones of Ruth Bader Ginsburg appointed to the Supreme Court. Think about a whole series of Ruth Bader Ginsburgs appointed to our federal courts, all the way down through the ranks, the entire farm team.”

King — who supported former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson for the Oval Office and campaigned for him in Iowa — said Republicans must honor the decision made by the party on the presidential candidate.

“It’s not that hard when you think about it,” King said. “Smile, hustle and act like you like it. This time we will be officially nominating an authentic American hero. This is a man who has served his country every day of his adult life, and he’s done so sometimes from the cockpit of a jet plane, and he’s done so sometimes from a bunk in the Hanoi Hilton.”

The ratings, which are also used to determine national rankings, have been criticized for not accurately reflecting the ideological leanings of members of Congress, but they still tend to find their way into campaign mailings and advertisements.

According to The National Journal, Harkin was more liberal than approximately 85 percent of his colleagues in the Senate.  Among Iowa’s Democratic representatives, Dave Loebsack had the highest liberal voting rating, followed by Bruce Braley.

Rep. Leonard Boswell, who has been attacked by his primary challenger, former State Rep. Ed Fallon, for being too conservative, received the lowest liberal vote rating — and the highest conservative rating — of any Democrat in Iowa’s delegation.

Rep. Steve King was more conservative than about 91 percent of his fellow members of the House, according to the ratings.  Sen. Chuck Grassley and Rep. Tom Latham voted more conservative than about three-fourths of their colleagues.

Democratic Sen. Joe Biden of Deleware and Republican Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas have little to lose by appearing together before the Greater Des Moines Committee on Foreign Relations. Both are trailing their rivals in the polls and have had difficulty garnering much attention from the media and the general public. They will use the appearance to endorse a plan that would create three independent states in Iraq.

“It will draw more attention than if either of them were holding an event on his own,” said Arthur Sanders, a political science professor at Drake University. “It holds little risk for either of them, and when you are a lower-tier candidate you need to do some things that people might consider unusual in order to get the public’s attention.”

About 5 percent of Iowa Democrats say they support Biden’s candidacy while 2 percent of Republicans say they support Brownback, according to the most recent Des Moines Register Iowa Poll, released last Sunday. Biden’s support grew by about 2 percent since the last Register poll; Brownback’s support shrunk. On Wednesday Brownback said he’d likely drop out of the race if he doesn’t finish in one of the top four spots in the state when the caucus is held in January. Biden has pushed Iraq as his main issue on the campaign trail. Brownback opposed increasing the number of troops in Iraq after two visits to the Middle East. Two weeks ago, the U.S. Senate voted 75 to 23 to support the Biden-Brownback-Boxer Amendment, which calls for a political solution in Iraq based on a decentralized, federal system of government. Iowa’s Senators Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin both voted for the amendment.

“Joe and I might be running for the nomination of two different parties, but we agree on one thing: the American people want progress in Iraq and this represents a viable way forward to stability and success,” Brownback said in a press release.

“Partisan politics must not come in the way of finding a solution to the war in Iraq,” Biden said. “The overwhelming majority of Americans want us to get our troops out of Iraq as quickly as possible without leaving chaos behind.”

The event will be from noon to 1 p.m. Friday at the Wakonda Country Club, 1400 Park Ave., Des Moines.

(Commentary) The reason many Republicans are turning to Fred Thompson (for now) is the same explanation for why Americans watch “Law & Order” re-runs on USA and TNT. Nothing else (no other GOP candidate) can hold their attention and they are too hungover to get off the couch and do anything but remote-control to the comfort food of “Law & Order,” which is the false sale of Freddie’s bid.

There is no doubting that Thompson is one of the more estimable character actors in modern American movies and TV. His role as Rear Admiral Joshua Painter in “The Hunt for Red October” is so super cat-daddy cool that you could make a case for supporting his presidential bid just on the basis of his ability to deliver lines like: “Russians don’t take a dump, son, without a plan.”

Then again, Thompson’s Arthur Branch isn’t even the best district attorney in the “Law & Order” series. That distinction (hands down) would go to Adam Schiff, played by Steven Hill from 1990 to 2000. Schiff comes across as a real New Yorker with show-stealing lines — and seems like he actually could be district attorney, perhaps because his character may be based on long-serving, real-life DA Robert Morgenthau.

What Thompson has shown so far on the campaign trail is underwhelming both substantively and stylistically. Thompson may want to hire some “Law & Order” writers to give him some better material. If you watch the nearly 30-minute speech (posted below) of Thompson in his hometown of Lawrenceburg, Tenn., recently, you won’t be offended or inspired. But perhaps that’s all he needs to be. He does have that folksiness that George W. Bush so desparately tries to affect. In his speech we learn that a local diner would throw two burgers on the grill whenever they spotted a younger Thompson coming and that he likes trucks. Some of his supporters are to be commended for clearly having seen the movie “All The King’s Men” — the new one — and getting some camera angles for the video that make Thompson look exceptionally tall. And he does get off a few decent lines for the base like, “Our rights don’t come from government, they come from God.”

One issue with which the late-arriving Thompson has to deal is the swirl of speculation and complaining about his reported laziness — something I asked both U.S. John McCain and U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin about recently.

He may also have a regional disconnect in Iowa.

As a rural Iowan I can tell you something about what we think of rural Southerners (Iowa had the highest per-capita service in the Union Army during the Civil War for starters). Here in the Midwest we are into what one might call age-appropriate relationships, and we find it disturbing when we see the children of Dixie entangled in marriages with the eye-popping age disparity in Thompson’s. It is simply unsettling to watch Fred geezer around with a wife who upon first glance 99 percent of people would guess is his daughter (as he does in the beginning of this video).

In rural Iowa, back in the day, you would meet at a dance, perhaps stray once for a kiss before you hit 20, and then get married. As someone who has edited and worked on every section of a small-town Iowa newspaper I can tell you that we just don’t see too many wedding announcements for our “Today’s Living” section with Thompsonesque canyon-sized age diffences.

Think I’m going too far with that? If our last two Iowa governors, a Democrat and Republican, can criticize Rudy Giuliani for being married three times surely it is fair game to raise the age issue in Thompson’s second government-recognized love connection.

Thompson may be doing well in some polls, but as one Republican-leaning Independent told me of his interest in Thompson: “To be honest, I just like him because I know nothing about him.”

Some well-respected political observers are seeing right through Thompson as well.

Former Chicago Tribune national correspondent Jon Margolis, a reporter I read closely during my salad days in the business and a writer who understands Iowa, dissects Thompson brilliantly in a recent article for The American Prospect.

In a perceptive and hilarious post on her Web log journalist and Iowa Independent contributor Garance Franke-Ruta debunks the notion that Thompson will somehow have women swooning in his wake. She pretty much sums up Thompson’s case as this: he’s tall.

To help break the taboo of mincing religion and politics, Wallis disarmed the audience by telling political jokes that placed Democrats and Republicans on an equally-footed alter, only to make fun of them equally, yet justly. In doing so, Wallis was quick to point out that he used the jokes to illustrate the “silly notion that God is either Republican or a Democrat. God is nonpartisan,” Wallis said. “People of faith ought not to be in any political party’s pocket.”

Wallis, a preacher and an activist, used his deep, oftentimes baritone preacher voice to preach the resurrection of the next social movement in the absence of a broken political system. “Politics is broken in America, because it’s failing to address most of the moral issues of our time,” Wallis said. “And when politics is broken, what often happens is that social movements rise up and change politics, and the best movements always have spiritual foundations.”In the spirit of a revival, Wallis senses, as he crisscrosses the country and delivers lectures at colleges, that there is a change in the air and a movement building in America. He tells those gathered that he’s seeing the beginnings of a new revival, a revival for justice, and that maybe faith — which has been viewed for a long time as an obstruction — may now become the catalyst to help make social change possible. “The two big hungers in our world today are the hunger for spirituality and the hunger for social justice,” Wallis said. “The message between the two is the one the world is waiting for, and a new dialogue has just begun. The new generation of people of faith is coming of age. They’re stepping up to a new kind of faith that engages the world.”

Speaking metaphorically, Wallis suggests that we’re faced with a number of mountains to move in our world. “We have 3 billion of God’s children — that’s half of us — who are living on under $2 a day,” Wallis said. “We have genocide in Darfur that everyone wants to stop, but we can’t seem to do so because of politics. We are faced with terrorism and endless wars against terrorism that are making matters that much worse. We have to move some mountains,” Wallis admits. “And people of faith, historically, have been in the mountain-moving business.”

Wallis went on to illustrate that the next revival will transcend political boundaries, in particular the labels Republican and Democrat, and all of the levels defined within each one of these labels. “In the spirit of `Great Awakenings,’ revivals will change things, and it won’t be confined to our political categories,’ Wallis said. “‘Right’ and `left’ are political categories, not religious ones, and they don’t fit people of faith. Our country is not hungry for a religious right or a religious left. What they’re hungry for is a moral center, and I don’t mean a soulless centrism for a mushy middle,” Wallis continued, before imploring the audience to take another direction in how they approach the crossroads of faith and politics.

“Don’t go right, don’t go left, go deeper. We need to go below the surface of the political debates. Candidates talk and talk and talk, but they hardly ever say anything.”

“I don’t know who or what your political leanings are, or who you want to win the presidential election, but I will tell you one thing: Whoever does win will not be able to change the big things in Washington unless, or until, there’s a social movement,” Wallis argued. “Lyndon B. Johnson wasn’t a civil rights leader until Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. made him one. The best political leaders of our time need a social movement to help move the mountains.”

Wallis told the story about an encounter he had with U2’s Bono, while the two of them were raising awareness about the plight of Africans. Wallis argues we need to change the public opinion about issues in Africa such as poverty, AIDS and genocide, and feels we’ve become dependent on our celebrities to change public opinion. Before reciting scripture, “Luke 4,” Bono agreed. “If we have to depend on our celebrities to change the public’s political opinion, then we’re in some serious trouble,” Bono reportedly said to Wallis.

As Wallis approached the apex of his lecture, he slowly shifted into preacher mode in an effort to inspire younger audience members to take action and move the mountain. By making an appearance on “The Daily Show” and lecturing at college campuses across the country, Wallis hopes to ignite the next generation to alter two perceptions of reality: what is acceptable and what is possible. “Until we no longer accept what is unacceptable, can we make what is possible, possible,” said Wallis. “What has long been tolerated, will not be tolerated any more. The question tonight is what are you no longer going to tolerate or accept?”

Wallis, his voice rising, as the IMU ballroom stage metamorphosed into a pulpit, asked, “Will it be acceptable to you (the) gap of life expectancy between the world’s richest and poorest countries? The gap is now 40 years,” Wallis answered, pausing before adding a point of exclamation. “Death has become a social disease.”

To help illustrate his point about the gap between what is and is not acceptable, Wallis told a story about an education convention he attended in Dallas. A number of prominent Americans were in attendance, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates. During the convention, attendees learned that there are an estimated 800 million children worldwide who get no education at all. They calculated that it would take $20 billion a year to educate 800 million children, and while America is the richest country in the world, education experts were perplexed as to how they’ll raise the money. Sensing this as his cue, Wallis chimed in, “$20 billion is two months in Iraq. What makes us more secure — educating 800 million children or two months of war?”

Wallis finished his lecture by telling a story about a time he preached at a church in Atlanta, the same church where Martin Luther King Jr. used to preach. When he took hold of the microphone in the pulpit, he literally froze. It wasn’t until the congregation, realizing he had frozen, shouted out words of encouragement, thus freeing Wallis from his momentary paralysis, so he could preach what he perceived to be some of his best stuff.

To help break the taboo of mincing religion and politics, Wallis disarmed the audience by telling political jokes that placed Democrats and Republicans on an equally-footed alter, only to make fun of them equally, yet justly. In doing so, Wallis was quick to point out that he used the jokes to illustrate the “silly notion that God is either Republican or a Democrat. God is nonpartisan,” Wallis said. “People of faith ought not to be in any political party’s pocket.”

Wallis, a preacher and an activist, used his deep, oftentimes baritone preacher voice to preach the resurrection of the next social movement in the absence of a broken political system. “Politics is broken in America, because it’s failing to address most of the moral issues of our time,” Wallis said. “And when politics is broken, what often happens is that social movements rise up and change politics, and the best movements always have spiritual foundations.”In the spirit of a revival, Wallis senses, as he crisscrosses the country and delivers lectures at colleges, that there is a change in the air and a movement building in America. He tells those gathered that he’s seeing the beginnings of a new revival, a revival for justice, and that maybe faith — which has been viewed for a long time as an obstruction to change — may now become the catalyst to help make social change possible. “The two big hungers in our world today are the hunger for spirituality and the hunger for social justice,” Wallis said. “The message between the two is the one the world is waiting for, and a new dialogue has just begun. The new generation of people of faith is coming of age. They’re stepping up to a new kind of faith that engages the world.”

Speaking metaphorically, Wallis suggests that we’re faced with a number of mountains to move in our world. “We have three billion of God’s children, that’s half of us, who are living under $2 a day,” Wallis said. “We have genocide in Darfur that everyone wants to stop, but we can’t seem to do so because of politics. We are faced with terrorism and endless wars against terrorism that are making matters that much worse. We have to move some mountains,” Wallis admits. “And people of faith, historically, have been in the mountain-moving business.”

Wallis went on to illustrate that the next revival will transcend political boundaries, in particular the labels, Republicans and Democrat, and all of the levels defined within each one of these labels. “In the spirit of `Great Awakenings,’ revivals will change things, and it won’t be confined to our political categories,’ Wallis said. “‘Right’ and `left’ are political categories, not religious ones, and they don’t fit people of faith. Our country is not hungry for a religious right or a religious left. What they’re hungry for is a moral center, and I don’t mean a soulless centrism for a mushy middle,” Wallis continued, before imploring the audience to take another direction in how they approach the crossroads of faith and politics. “Don’t go right, don’t go left, go deeper. We need to go below the surface of the political debates. Candidates talk and talk and talk, but they hardly ever say anything.”

“I don’t know who or what your political leanings are, or who you want to win the presidential election, but I will tell you one thing. Whoever does win will not be able to change the big things in Washington, unless, or until there’s a social movement,” Wallis argued. “Lyndon B. Johnson wasn’t a civil rights leader until Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. made him one. The best political leaders of our time need a social movement to help move the mountains.”

Wallis told the story about an encounter he had with U2’s Bono, while the two of them were raising awareness about the plights in Africa. Wallis argues we need to change the public opinion about issues in Africa such as poverty, AIDS, and genocide, and feels we’ve become dependent on our celebrities to change public opinion. Before reciting scripture, “Luke 4,” Bono agreed. “If we have to depend on our celebrities to change the public’s political opinion, then we’re in some serious trouble,” Bono said to Wallis.

As Wallis approached the apex of his lecture, he slowly shifted into preacher mode in an effort to inspire younger audience members to take action and move the mountain. By making an appearance on “The Daily Show” and lecturing at college campuses all over the country, Wallis hopes to ignite the next generation to alter two perceptions of reality: what is acceptable and what is possible. “Until we no longer accept what is unacceptable can we make what is possible, possible,” said Wallis. “What has long been tolerated, will not be tolerated any more. The question tonight is what are you no longer going to tolerate or accept?”

Wallis, his voice rising, as the IMU ballroom stage metamorphosed into a pulpit, asked, “Will it be acceptable to you gap of life expectancy between the world’s richest and poorest countries? The gap is now 40 years,” Wallis answered, pausing before adding a point of exclamation. “Death has become a social disease.”

To help illustrate his point about the gap between what is and what is not acceptable, Wallis told a story about an education convention he attended in Dallas. A number of prominent Americans were in attendance, including Bill Gates. During the convention, attendees learned that there are an estimated 800 million children worldwide who get no education at all. They calculated that it would take $20 billion a year to educate 800 million children, and while America is the richest country in the world, education experts were perplexed as to how they’ll raise the money. Sensing this as his cue, Wallis chimed in, “$20 billion is two months in Iraq. What makes us more secure, educating 800 million children or two months of war?”

Wallis finished his lecture by telling a story about a time he preached at a church in Atlanta, the same church where Martin Luther King, Jr. used to preach. When he took hold of the microphone in the pulpit, he literally froze. It wasn’t until the congregation, realizing he had frozen, shouted out words of encouragement, thus freeing Wallis from his momentary paralysis, so he could preach what he perceived to be some of his best stuff.

To help break the taboo of mincing religion and politics, Wallis disarmed the audience by telling political jokes that placed Democrats and Republicans on an equally-footed alter, only to make fun of them equally, yet justly. In doing so, Wallis was quick to point out that he used the jokes to illustrate the “silly notion that God is either Republican or a Democrat. God is nonpartisan,” Wallis said. “People of faith ought not to be in any political party’s pocket.”

Wallis, a preacher and an activist, used his deep, oftentimes baritone preacher voice to preach the resurrection of the next social movement in the absence of a broken political system. “Politics is broken in America, because it’s failing to address most of the moral issues of our time,” Wallis said. “And when politics is broken, what often happens is that social movements rise up and change politics, and the best movements always have spiritual foundations.”In the spirit of a revival, Wallis senses, as he crisscrosses the country and delivers lectures at colleges, that there is a change in the air and a movement building in America. He tells those gathered that he’s seeing the beginnings of a new revival, a revival for justice, and that maybe faith — which has been viewed for a long time as an obstruction to change — may now become the catalyst to help make social change possible. “The two big hungers in our world today are the hunger for spirituality and the hunger for social justice,” Wallis said. “The message between the two is the one the world is waiting for, and a new dialogue has just begun. The new generation of people of faith is coming of age. They’re stepping up to a new kind of faith that engages the world.”

Speaking metaphorically, Wallis suggests that we’re faced with a number of mountains to move in our world. “We have three billion of God’s children, that’s half of us, who are living under $2 a day,” Wallis said. “We have genocide in Darfur that everyone wants to stop, but we can’t seem to do so because of politics. We are faced with terrorism and endless wars against terrorism that are making matters that much worse. We have to move some mountains,” Wallis admits. “And people of faith, historically, have been in the mountain-moving business.”

Wallis went on to illustrate that the next revival will transcend political boundaries, in particular the labels, Republicans and Democrat, and all of the levels defined within each one of these labels. “In the spirit of `Great Awakenings,’ revivals will change things, and it won’t be confined to our political categories,’ Wallis said. “‘Right’ and `left’ are political categories, not religious ones, and they don’t fit people of faith. Our country is not hungry for a religious right or a religious left. What they’re hungry for is a moral center, and I don’t mean a soulless centrism for a mushy middle,” Wallis continued, before imploring the audience to take another direction in how they approach the crossroads of faith and politics. “Don’t go right, don’t go left, go deeper. We need to go below the surface of the political debates. Candidates talk and talk and talk, but they hardly ever say anything.”

“I don’t know who or what your political leanings are, or who you want to win the presidential election, but I will tell you one thing. Whoever does win will not be able to change the big things in Washington, unless, or until there’s a social movement,” Wallis argued. “Lyndon B. Johnson wasn’t a civil rights leader until Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. made him one. The best political leaders of our time need a social movement to help move the mountains.”

Wallis told the story about an encounter he had with U2’s Bono, while the two of them were raising awareness about the plights in Africa. Wallis argues we need to change the public opinion about issues in Africa such as poverty, AIDS, and genocide, and feels we’ve become dependent on our celebrities to change public opinion. Before reciting scripture, “Luke 4,” Bono agreed. “If we have to depend on our celebrities to change the public’s political opinion, then we’re in some serious trouble,” Bono said to Wallis.

As Wallis approached the apex of his lecture, he slowly shifted into preacher mode in an effort to inspire younger audience members to take action and move the mountain. By making an appearance on “The Daily Show” and lecturing at college campuses all over the country, Wallis hopes to ignite the next generation to alter two perceptions of reality: what is acceptable and what is possible. “Until we no longer accept what is unacceptable can we make what is possible, possible,” said Wallis. “What has long been tolerated, will not be tolerated any more. The question tonight is what are you no longer going to tolerate or accept?”

Wallis, his voice rising, as the IMU ballroom stage metamorphosed into a pulpit, asked, “Will it be acceptable to you gap of life expectancy between the world’s richest and poorest countries? The gap is now 40 years,” Wallis answered, pausing before adding a point of exclamation. “Death has become a social disease.”

To help illustrate his point about the gap between what is and what is not acceptable, Wallis told a story about an education convention he attended in Dallas. A number of prominent Americans were in attendance, including Bill Gates. During the convention, attendees learned that there are an estimated 800 million children worldwide who get no education at all. They calculated that it would take $20 billion a year to educate 800 million children, and while America is the richest country in the world, education experts were perplexed as to how they’ll raise the money. Sensing this as his cue, Wallis chimed in, “$20 billion is two months in Iraq. What makes us more secure, educating 800 million children or two months of war?”

Wallis finished his lecture by telling a story about a time he preached at a church in Atlanta, the same church where Martin Luther King, Jr. used to preach. When he took hold of the microphone in the pulpit, he literally froze. It wasn’t until the congregation, realizing he had frozen, shouted out words of encouragement, thus freeing Wallis from his momentary paralysis, so he could preach what he perceived to be some of his best stuff.

To help break the taboo of mincing religion and politics, Wallis disarmed the audience by telling political jokes that placed Democrats and Republicans on an equally-footed alter, only to make fun of them equally, yet justly. In doing so, Wallis was quick to point out that he used the jokes to illustrate the “silly notion that God is either Republican or a Democrat. God is nonpartisan,” Wallis said. “People of faith ought not to be in any political party’s pocket.”

Wallis, a preacher and an activist, used his deep, oftentimes baritone preacher voice to preach the resurrection of the next social movement in the absence of a broken political system. “Politics is broken in America, because it’s failing to address most of the moral issues of our time,” Wallis said. “And when politics is broken, what often happens is that social movements rise up and change politics, and the best movements always have spiritual foundations.”In the spirit of a revival, Wallis senses, as he crisscrosses the country and delivers lectures at colleges, that there is a change in the air and a movement building in America. He tells those gathered that he’s seeing the beginnings of a new revival, a revival for justice, and that maybe faith — which has been viewed for a long time as an obstruction to change — may now become the catalyst to help make social change possible. “The two big hungers in our world today are the hunger for spirituality and the hunger for social justice,” Wallis said. “The message between the two is the one the world is waiting for, and a new dialogue has just begun. The new generation of people of faith is coming of age. They’re stepping up to a new kind of faith that engages the world.”

Speaking metaphorically, Wallis suggests that we’re faced with a number of mountains to move in our world. “We have three billion of God’s children, that’s half of us, who are living under $2 a day,” Wallis said. “We have genocide in Darfur that everyone wants to stop, but we can’t seem to do so because of politics. We are faced with terrorism and endless wars against terrorism that are making matters that much worse. We have to move some mountains,” Wallis admits. “And people of faith, historically, have been in the mountain-moving business.”

Wallis went on to illustrate that the next revival will transcend political boundaries, in particular the labels, Republicans and Democrat, and all of the levels defined within each one of these labels. “In the spirit of `Great Awakenings,’ revivals will change things, and it won’t be confined to our political categories,’ Wallis said. “‘Right’ and `left’ are political categories, not religious ones, and they don’t fit people of faith. Our country is not hungry for a religious right or a religious left. What they’re hungry for is a moral center, and I don’t mean a soulless centrism for a mushy middle,” Wallis continued, before imploring the audience to take another direction in how they approach the crossroads of faith and politics. “Don’t go right, don’t go left, go deeper. We need to go below the surface of the political debates. Candidates talk and talk and talk, but they hardly ever say anything.”

“I don’t know who or what your political leanings are, or who you want to win the presidential election, but I will tell you one thing. Whoever does win will not be able to change the big things in Washington, unless, or until there’s a social movement,” Wallis argued. “Lyndon B. Johnson wasn’t a civil rights leader until Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. made him one. The best political leaders of our time need a social movement to help move the mountains.”

Wallis told the story about an encounter he had with U2’s Bono, while the two of them were raising awareness about the plights in Africa. Wallis argues we need to change the public opinion about issues in Africa such as poverty, AIDS, and genocide, and feels we’ve become dependent on our celebrities to change public opinion. Before reciting scripture, “Luke 4,” Bono agreed. “If we have to depend on our celebrities to change the public’s political opinion, then we’re in some serious trouble,” Bono said to Wallis.

As Wallis approached the apex of his lecture, he slowly shifted into preacher mode in an effort to inspire younger audience members to take action and move the mountain. By making an appearance on “The Daily Show” and lecturing at college campuses all over the country, Wallis hopes to ignite the next generation to alter two perceptions of reality: what is acceptable and what is possible. “Until we no longer accept what is unacceptable can we make what is possible, possible,” said Wallis. “What has long been tolerated, will not be tolerated any more. The question tonight is what are you no longer going to tolerate or accept?”

Wallis, his voice rising, as the IMU ballroom stage metamorphosed into a pulpit, asked, “Will it be acceptable to you gap of life expectancy between the world’s richest and poorest countries? The gap is now 40 years,” Wallis answered, pausing before adding a point of exclamation. “Death has become a social disease.”

To help illustrate his point about the gap between what is and what is not acceptable, Wallis told a story about an education convention he attended in Dallas. A number of prominent Americans were in attendance, including Bill Gates. During the convention, attendees learned that there are an estimated 800 million children worldwide who get no education at all. They calculated that it would take $20 billion a year to educate 800 million children, and while America is the richest country in the world, education experts were perplexed as to how they’ll raise the money. Sensing this as his cue, Wallis chimed in, “$20 billion is two months in Iraq. What makes us more secure, educating 800 million children or two months of war?”

Wallis finished his lecture by telling a story about a time he preached at a church in Atlanta, the same church where Martin Luther King, Jr. used to preach. When he took hold of the microphone in the pulpit, he literally froze. It wasn’t until the congregation, realizing he had frozen, shouted out words of encouragement, thus freeing Wallis from his momentary paralysis, so he could preach what he perceived to be some of his best stuff.

To help break the taboo of mincing religion and politics, Wallis disarmed the audience by telling political jokes that placed Democrats and Republicans on an equally-footed alter, only to make fun of them equally, yet justly. In doing so, Wallis was quick to point out that he used the jokes to illustrate the “silly notion that God is either Republican or a Democrat. God is nonpartisan,” Wallis said. “People of faith ought not to be in any political party’s pocket.”

Wallis, a preacher and an activist, used his deep, oftentimes baritone preacher voice to preach the resurrection of the next social movement in the absence of a broken political system. “Politics is broken in America, because it’s failing to address most of the moral issues of our time,” Wallis said. “And when politics is broken, what often happens is that social movements rise up and change politics, and the best movements always have spiritual foundations.”In the spirit of a revival, Wallis senses, as he crisscrosses the country and delivers lectures at colleges, that there is a change in the air and a movement building in America. He tells those gathered that he’s seeing the beginnings of a new revival, a revival for justice, and that maybe faith — which has been viewed for a long time as an obstruction to change — may now become the catalyst to help make social change possible. “The two big hungers in our world today are the hunger for spirituality and the hunger for social justice,” Wallis said. “The message between the two is the one the world is waiting for, and a new dialogue has just begun. The new generation of people of faith is coming of age. They’re stepping up to a new kind of faith that engages the world.”

Speaking metaphorically, Wallis suggests that we’re faced with a number of mountains to move in our world. “We have three billion of God’s children, that’s half of us, who are living under $2 a day,” Wallis said. “We have genocide in Darfur that everyone wants to stop, but we can’t seem to do so because of politics. We are faced with terrorism and endless wars against terrorism that are making matters that much worse. We have to move some mountains,” Wallis admits. “And people of faith, historically, have been in the mountain-moving business.”

Wallis went on to illustrate that the next revival will transcend political boundaries, in particular the labels, Republicans and Democrat, and all of the levels defined within each one of these labels. “In the spirit of `Great Awakenings,’ revivals will change things, and it won’t be confined to our political categories,’ Wallis said. “‘Right’ and `left’ are political categories, not religious ones, and they don’t fit people of faith. Our country is not hungry for a religious right or a religious left. What they’re hungry for is a moral center, and I don’t mean a soulless centrism for a mushy middle,” Wallis continued, before imploring the audience to take another direction in how they approach the crossroads of faith and politics. “Don’t go right, don’t go left, go deeper. We need to go below the surface of the political debates. Candidates talk and talk and talk, but they hardly ever say anything.”

“I don’t know who or what your political leanings are, or who you want to win the presidential election, but I will tell you one thing. Whoever does win will not be able to change the big things in Washington, unless, or until there’s a social movement,” Wallis argued. “Lyndon B. Johnson wasn’t a civil rights leader until Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. made him one. The best political leaders of our time need a social movement to help move the mountains.”

Wallis told the story about an encounter he had with U2’s Bono, while the two of them were raising awareness about the plights in Africa. Wallis argues we need to change the public opinion about issues in Africa such as poverty, AIDS, and genocide, and feels we’ve become dependent on our celebrities to change public opinion. Before reciting scripture, “Luke 4,” Bono agreed. “If we have to depend on our celebrities to change the public’s political opinion, then we’re in some serious trouble,” Bono said to Wallis.

As Wallis approached the apex of his lecture, he slowly shifted into preacher mode in an effort to inspire younger audience members to take action and move the mountain. By making an appearance on “The Daily Show” and lecturing at college campuses all over the country, Wallis hopes to ignite the next generation to alter two perceptions of reality: what is acceptable and what is possible. “Until we no longer accept what is unacceptable can we make what is possible, possible,” said Wallis. “What has long been tolerated, will not be tolerated any more. The question tonight is what are you no longer going to tolerate or accept?”

Wallis, his voice rising, as the IMU ballroom stage metamorphosed into a pulpit, asked, “Will it be acceptable to you gap of life expectancy between the world’s richest and poorest countries? The gap is now 40 years,” Wallis answered, pausing before adding a point of exclamation. “Death has become a social disease.”

To help illustrate his point about the gap between what is and what is not acceptable, Wallis told a story about an education convention he attended in Dallas. A number of prominent Americans were in attendance, including Bill Gates. During the convention, attendees learned that there are an estimated 800 million children worldwide who get no education at all. They calculated that it would take $20 billion a year to educate 800 million children, and while America is the richest country in the world, education experts were perplexed as to how they’ll raise the money. Sensing this as his cue, Wallis chimed in, “$20 billion is two months in Iraq. What makes us more secure, educating 800 million children or two months of war?”

Wallis finished his lecture by telling a story about a time he preached at a church in Atlanta, the same church where Martin Luther King, Jr. used to preach. When he took hold of the microphone in the pulpit, he literally froze. It wasn’t until the congregation, realizing he had frozen, shouted out words of encouragement, thus freeing Wallis from his momentary paralysis, so he could preach what he perceived to be some of his best stuff.