In today’s New York Times, Neela Banerjee rounds up the Hagee story in a useful way. What’s most interesting is that at this point Hagee is simply not commenting on his endorsement of John McCain, and the McCain campaign shows no interest in invigorating the connection. In his earlier strenuous effort to line Hagee up, McCain seemed to be attempting an end run around the old dogs of the Religious Right, the Dobsons and the Robertsons who seem pretty irreconcilable to him. Hagee, because of his MIddle East enthusiasms, seemed like just the guy to give McCain some evangelical street cred. But since Hagee’s endorsement has created the biggest religion problem for McCain since his 2000 denunciation of those “agents of intolerance,” it’s not clear where he goes next, if he expects to generate the necessary enthusiasm among evangelicals come the general election. Maybe it’s time to buy a few options on Mike Huckabee’s vp chances.