The candidates were just asked “Red Sox or Yankees?” The preceding question asked them to quote their favorite bible verse. Biden answered: “Jesus‘ warning about the Pharisees.” I think he meant to critique fundamentalism. Obama and Richardson cited the Sermon on the Mount. Clinton said the Golden Rule. Gravel fumbled, “Love. That love is the most important thing.”

—Dana Goldstein

Dana Goldstein, a former associate editor and writer at the Prospect, comes from a family of public-school educators. She received the Spencer Fellowship in Education Journalism, a Schwarz Fellowship at the New America Foundation, and a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellowship at the Nation Institute. Her journalism is regularly featured in Slate, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Daily Beast, and other publications, and she is a staff writer at the Marshall Project.