They’re the two topics you’re never supposed to raise at a dinner party: religion and politics. In the past week the two have been on the verge of collision in Washington and Pennsylvania amid a papal visit, and an approaching and important primary.

Where religion and politics intersect is a murky place in American politics. As candidates for office seek to offend as few voters as possible, they strategically calculate the ways through which they can ensure support from various demographic groups. This cycle, Clinton and Obama have not shied away from discussing religion openly‚ due to both choice and circumstantial pressure‚ and have micro-targeted voters based upon demographics. In the Pennsylvania primary this week, once again we will see the fruits of the campaigns' efforts to excite and inform voters in the state.

At the CNN “Compassion Forum” in the state on Sunday, Obama and Clinton got a minimal chance to engage in religious dialgue. Instead, they traded jabs/defended themselves over “bitter” accusations, "misspeaks" about Bosnia, and drinking on the campaign trail. On Wednesday, as ABC spent the first hour of the debate questioning Clinton and Obama on similar issues, the candidates once again engaged in ad hominem back-and-forth‚ both because of ABC's questioning and the state of such nonsensical issues as topical now in the campaign.

The rhetoric may have devolved into such a state due to the longevity of both campaigns in the state of Pennsylvania. It has been about a month since the laststate primary, and both camp Clinton and camp Obama have been working in the state for even longer.

Pennsylvania, typically a battleground in general elections, has not played a substantial role in a primary in recent years. Nevertheless, like many a general election contender before them, Clinton and Obama have taken a scientific approach to swaying Pennsylvania's religious groups. In the state nearly 30 percent of voters are Roman Catholics, many of whom of Irish or Polish heritage. Mainline and evangelical Protestants constitute another 43 percent of voters in the state; a mere seven percent identify with the historically black protestant religious tradition (according to a 2007 Pew Research study.)

In attempts to engage voters, Hillary Clinton has drank with Irish Catholics, and Obama has gone bowling‚ cultural activities, not religious. In this campaign, however, Obama's religious views in particular have been a point of discussion. Obama has tied his faith story to that of the black community in the United States as a result of the controversy about his Pastor Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Obama has not raised such rhetoric in Pennsylvania; he hasn't had the chance, as he fights the notion that he is "elitist."

Its relatively high percentage of white Catholics not withstanding, the state of Pennsylvania roughly matches the U.S. norm in its religious demographics. Tuesday's primary results could provide a glimpse into the psyche of the nation and the extent to which religion will be relevant in the fall.

Image of the National Cathedral courtesy of Flickr under a Creative Commons License.