Stirring her morning coffee, lifelong Republican Grace Droog voices her doubts -- and those of many evangelical voters -- about what she isn't hearing from John McCain in this year's presidential election.

"I look for something about his faith," she says. "It's very important. It's what our nation was founded on."

Her pal Joan Rens nods. She, too, wants McCain to talk about his religious beliefs. "I wish he would so we would know how he stands on his religious views and where his faith lies," she says.

In this part of the country -- halfway between Sioux City, Iowa, and Sioux Falls, S.D., -- separating religion from politics is folly. Religious conservatives here were energized by President George W. Bush's public declaration of faith and handed him a landslide in 2004.

"When they get on fire, it's, Katie, bar the door," said Rock Rapids businessman George Schneiderman, who worries that McCain isn't generating that excitement.

"It's just kind of a tepid response," he said. "McCain really hasn't convinced them he has the same fervour about the appointment of judges, about the right to life."

In the ongoing AP-Yahoo News Poll, only 10 per cent of white evangelical Christians say they are excited by this election, compared with 20 per cent of Americans overall. A third of these evangelicals said they were interested in the election, but half said they were frustrated by it.

Nevertheless, they support McCain over Barack Obama by 62 per cent to 18 per cent. But, McCain's figures lag behind Bush's showing among white evangelical Christian voters in the 2004 election, when 78 per cent supported him.

A prosperous hamlet of 6,300, Sioux Center is home to 17 churches, 13 of them with the word "Reformed" in their name, a sign of a strong evangelical presence. In 2004, 16,000 people in the county voted, 14,000 of them for Bush.

Carl Zylstra is president of Dordt College, a small private school that bills itself as "what quality Christian higher education is all about." Also the host of a weekly radio talk show about politics and everything else on the minds of folks, Zylstra hears quiet doubts, far different from the passion Bush inspired.

"George Bush has a very compelling personal story, a very compelling religious experience and in their hearts they believed he was a man who loved the same Lord they did," said Zylstra.

"They might not agree with all his policies, but they trusted him that when the chips were down, he would do the right thing. McCain is not a man who incites the same passion."

Religious conservatives are an important constituency in this swing state, and a growing force in Republican politics. Republicans recently ousted Steve Roberts, a 20-year member of the Republican National Committee, and replaced him with Steve Scheffler, head of the Iowa Christian Alliance.

The other RNC seat went to Kim Lehman, head of the Iowa Right to Life Committee. Both campaigned on forcing the party to showcase its hardline opposition to abortion and gay rights. Scheffler says he backs McCain, but concedes there isn't much enthusiasm among religious conservatives.

"It's not where it should be," said Scheffler, "but there's potential there."

Nationally, the balancing act McCain must walk is firming up his conservative base while reaching out to independents. Scheffler warns that the equation is different in Iowa and throughout the Midwest.

"To succeed in Iowa, it's because you have a big turnout of self-identified evangelicals," said Scheffler. "I don't see that scenario changing."

Randy Feenstra, another activist, doesn't see these voters turning to Democrat Barack Obama, but he worries that they "just won't vote."

Top Republicans acknowledge the problem and vow to ease concerns. On a recent visit to Iowa, Republican National Chairman Mike Duncan delivered a pep talk about McCain.

"For a public figure, he's a very private man," Duncan said, but he promised the campaign would offer a clearer view of McCain as a person "as we move through this fall."

Sharing regular morning coffee here with Droog and Rens, Jake Kieft -- who backed Bush with enthusiasm -- shrugs his shoulders over the campaign.

"I'm hanging on the fence," says Kieft. "I really am."