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Courting the faithful
The crowd of 100,000 cheered as the latest rock anthem crescendoed to its conclusion. Then Alec Baldwin's younger brother Stephen - the festival's keynote speaker - stepped up to the microphone.

You might be mistaken for thinking this audience of young Americans had come together just to soak up the sunshine and have a good time. Then Baldwin spoke, and disabused any misinterpretation of the gathering.

"I don't care if I ever shoot a movie again," he said. "Because the day I accepted Jesus into my life I was blessed."

"Now, I don't want to tell you who should vote for in November" he continued. "But make sure it's for the one who has the most faith. Now, more than ever, we need someone in the White House who is being led by God."

The last line got a roar of approval from the crowd who were now on their feet. The event I attended over the weekend was the Creation Festival, an annual gathering of evangelical Christians that has been going on for more than three decades, but that has mushroomed into a massive phenomenon in recent years.

The three-day event, set on a farm in western Pennsylvania looked in many ways like I imagine Woodstock must have, but with crucial differences. Hundreds of tents and caravans stuck in the summer- baked mud, spontaneous hugging, rock and roll yes, but no sex and no drugs.

This is the crowd George Bush hopes may yet save him from political oblivion in November....