With the largest vote in US history, it's become clear that a lot of folks in the heartland, now in the majority, have morality on their minds.

Yet as moral values topped the exit polls as "the issue that mattered most" to voters, some in the blue states were reeling from what they saw as a deep values clash. People on the streets in Boston and New York told their local newspapers they were stunned and hurt - not just because their candidate lost, but because of the alienation they felt from the center of the country.

The culture wars have taken on new life, it seems, yet some suggest the talk of values as the key to the election has been overplayed. After all, even though it was the top issue, it was such for only 22 percent of those polled.

Others, however, see it as indicative of a broader concern among Americans. For several years, surveys have shown a large majority are worried about declining morals. Their voices were heard, for example, in the outcry over decency on the airwaves sparked by this year's Super Bowl halftime show.

Many have called for more religion in public life as an antidote, and President Bush's open evocation of faith clearly resonates beyond his Evangelical base. Despite negative views on the economy and the country's direction, he boosted his draw in this election among mainline Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and blacks, as well as Evangelicals.

"The success of Mr. Bush ... is that he has a better sense of where the center of conservative Christianity is in the US than all his critics on the religious right or religious left," says James Guth, political science professor at Furman University in Greenville, S.C.

But there remains a profound values divide - some call it a chasm - and the question is whether the president will try to bridge that gap.

"Leadership is a really important thing. It's like Nixon in China. He's the man in a great position to do it," says Alan Wolfe, director of Boisi Center for Religion in American Life at Boston College.

But Dr. Wolfe doesn't hold out much hope. Yet he does foresee the election not only galvanizing the religious right to press their cause, but also spurring those in the center and left to more vigorously engage in the debate on moral issues, particularly over the war and homeland security.

To many on the right, the election outcome is directly traceable to the values concerns of Christian conservatives, with the potential "bombshell" of gay marriage prodding an unprecedented turnout at the polls.

Others highlight Bush's support for "pro-life" issues and the potential to appoint judges that might overturn Roe v. Wade, the abortion case many call the prime catalyst for the political realignment of the South from Democratic to Republican.

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