McCain VP running mate Gov. Sarah Palin is the “first movement evangelical to ever occupy a place on a GOP ticket” since conservative evangelicals entered the political fray in force in the 1980s, says scholar Mark Silk on his blog Spiritual Politics.

And all the evangelicals (or at least their self-appointed spokesmen) say: Amen.

The NYTimes has an interesting piece of Palin’s campaign tactics when she ran for mayor of Wasilla, pop: 8,000. Apparently, she’s less the New evangelical with the broader agenda we’ve been hearing about than an old-fashioned God, guns and Gomorrah-type.

Excerpt: “Anti-abortion fliers circulated. Ms. Palin played up her church work and her membership in the National Rifle Association. The state Republican Party, never involved before because city elections are nonpartisan, ran advertisements on Ms. Palin’s behalf.

Two years after Representative Newt Gingrich helped draft the Contract With America to advance Republican positions, Ms. Palin and her passion for Republican ideology and religious faith overtook a town known for a wide libertarian streak and for helping start the Iditarod sled dog race.”

Oh yeah, she hounded librarians too, and wanted to ban books. Does’t say which books though.