The recent repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy notwithstanding, it’s been quite some time since social issues played a prominent role in national politics. Republicans rode to victory on the strength of so-called “values voters” in 2004, championing a message of social conservatism on issues like abortion and gay marriage. And it might have delivered them four more years in the White House. Since then, the Iraq war and the struggling economy have consumed the American electorate and left little appetite for much else.

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