Former New York Times reporter Timothy Egan recently traveled to Colorado Springs to check on voter preferences. His findings, as reported in a blog post in the Times, are not encouraging for John McCain. While the Springs remains "the Vatican of evangelical political power," Egan reports the economy has trumped moral values as the issue du jour:

[O]n election day, there will be no repeat of 2004, when people woke up to the surprise that "moral values" was the leading issue of the campaign, according to exit polls.

Egan says James Dobson is "yesterday" while a new evangelical leader, Pastor Brady Boyd, represents the future. Egan writes of Boyd:

..the environment, the poor, and helping those in his church who've lost a job or a house are things that matter to his congregation.

What about William Ayers, abortion, and gays?

"To be focused on those things at a time when people are hurting would really be to the detriment of families," said Boyd.

As for what this all means to the election, Egan concludes:

Obama will not win Colorado Springs. John Kerry got just 32 percent of the vote in this county in 2004. But if Obama gets 40 percent – which is what Democrats expect based on the surge of newly registered voters and independents who are following Jan Martin's path – he will win this state, and the election.