Briefly skimmed through a few posts, there is a particular one I'd like to add/respond, per Raque's 2nd point about:
"2) The religion thing keeps rearing its head. It is made to sound as if EVERY Republican is Jerry Falwell (as a Republican, I'll tell you that Jerry Falwell is not ANYWHERE near who I identify with), and EVERY Democrat is Joe Atheist. There are many non-believing Republicans, and many believing Democrats. MANY, MANY on both sides. It's not about religion - it's about what we believe is right for this country. Let me repeat that in case you didn't get it - it is not, and never has been about religion, or the lack thereof..... "

You can't separate religion and what we 'believe' for the majority of the population, since they are mostly theists. Religion plays a HUGE role in this election, the Republicans realized that by targeting their campaigns to Churches and other institutions since 2002, and remember the great speech Bush gave back when he was running in 2000? "Jesus is my idol" that caught people by surprise. It's no secret that this election has to do with religious issues that tie in with a LOT of moral values of both candidates. Abortion and stem cell research were brought up many times, exit polls show that moral values were a huge deciding factors for many, (as well as economy, Iraq, homeland security). Gay marriage was also significant, as evident by 11 states passing the law at the same time of the election. There were stories how Pastors and Ministers were telling people not to vote for Kerry, because he is not an authentic Catholic, radio talk shows have callers calling about how important it is to have their religious believes on the same page as their nation's leader.

There's just too much overwhelming aspects that religion has played a huge role in this election and Bush's administration. I would also like to add that Kerry's no different in this, except he didn't aggressively talk about his Catholic background until the final push in the election run.